EP2491127B1 - Engineered zinc finger proteins targeting plant genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis - Google Patents

Engineered zinc finger proteins targeting plant genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis Download PDF

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EP2491127B1
EP2491127B1 EP10825333.7A EP10825333A EP2491127B1 EP 2491127 B1 EP2491127 B1 EP 2491127B1 EP 10825333 A EP10825333 A EP 10825333A EP 2491127 B1 EP2491127 B1 EP 2491127B1
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gene
zfp
plant
dna
expression
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French (fr)
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EP2491127A4 (en
EP2491127A1 (en
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Russell Dekelver
Manju Gupta
Jeffrey C. Miller
Stephen Novak
Joseph F. Petolino
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Sangamo Therapeutics Inc
Corteva Agriscience LLC
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Dow AgroSciences LLC
Sangamo Biosciences Inc
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Priority to EP14151570.0A priority patent/EP2722392B1/en
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    • C12N9/00—Enzymes; Proenzymes; Compositions thereof; Processes for preparing, activating, inhibiting, separating or purifying enzymes
    • C12N9/14—Hydrolases (3)
    • C12N9/16—Hydrolases (3) acting on ester bonds (3.1)
    • C12N9/22—Ribonucleases RNAses, DNAses
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
    • C07K14/415—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from plants
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    • C12N15/00—Mutation or genetic engineering; DNA or RNA concerning genetic engineering, vectors, e.g. plasmids, or their isolation, preparation or purification; Use of hosts therefor
    • C12N15/09—Recombinant DNA-technology
    • C12N15/63—Introduction of foreign genetic material using vectors; Vectors; Use of hosts therefor; Regulation of expression
    • C12N15/79—Vectors or expression systems specially adapted for eukaryotic hosts
    • C12N15/82—Vectors or expression systems specially adapted for eukaryotic hosts for plant cells, e.g. plant artificial chromosomes (PACs)
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    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
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    • C12N15/00—Mutation or genetic engineering; DNA or RNA concerning genetic engineering, vectors, e.g. plasmids, or their isolation, preparation or purification; Use of hosts therefor
    • C12N15/09—Recombinant DNA-technology
    • C12N15/63—Introduction of foreign genetic material using vectors; Vectors; Use of hosts therefor; Regulation of expression
    • C12N15/79—Vectors or expression systems specially adapted for eukaryotic hosts
    • C12N15/82—Vectors or expression systems specially adapted for eukaryotic hosts for plant cells, e.g. plant artificial chromosomes (PACs)
    • C12N15/8216—Methods for controlling, regulating or enhancing expression of transgenes in plant cells
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    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
    • C12N—MICROORGANISMS OR ENZYMES; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF; PROPAGATING, PRESERVING, OR MAINTAINING MICROORGANISMS; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; CULTURE MEDIA
    • C12N15/00—Mutation or genetic engineering; DNA or RNA concerning genetic engineering, vectors, e.g. plasmids, or their isolation, preparation or purification; Use of hosts therefor
    • C12N15/09—Recombinant DNA-technology
    • C12N15/63—Introduction of foreign genetic material using vectors; Vectors; Use of hosts therefor; Regulation of expression
    • C12N15/79—Vectors or expression systems specially adapted for eukaryotic hosts
    • C12N15/82—Vectors or expression systems specially adapted for eukaryotic hosts for plant cells, e.g. plant artificial chromosomes (PACs)
    • C12N15/8216—Methods for controlling, regulating or enhancing expression of transgenes in plant cells
    • C12N15/8218—Antisense, co-suppression, viral induced gene silencing [VIGS], post-transcriptional induced gene silencing [PTGS]
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    • C12N15/00—Mutation or genetic engineering; DNA or RNA concerning genetic engineering, vectors, e.g. plasmids, or their isolation, preparation or purification; Use of hosts therefor
    • C12N15/09—Recombinant DNA-technology
    • C12N15/63—Introduction of foreign genetic material using vectors; Vectors; Use of hosts therefor; Regulation of expression
    • C12N15/79—Vectors or expression systems specially adapted for eukaryotic hosts
    • C12N15/82—Vectors or expression systems specially adapted for eukaryotic hosts for plant cells, e.g. plant artificial chromosomes (PACs)
    • C12N15/8241—Phenotypically and genetically modified plants via recombinant DNA technology
    • C12N15/8242—Phenotypically and genetically modified plants via recombinant DNA technology with non-agronomic quality (output) traits, e.g. for industrial processing; Value added, non-agronomic traits
    • C12N15/8243—Phenotypically and genetically modified plants via recombinant DNA technology with non-agronomic quality (output) traits, e.g. for industrial processing; Value added, non-agronomic traits involving biosynthetic or metabolic pathways, i.e. metabolic engineering, e.g. nicotine, caffeine
    • C12N15/8247—Phenotypically and genetically modified plants via recombinant DNA technology with non-agronomic quality (output) traits, e.g. for industrial processing; Value added, non-agronomic traits involving biosynthetic or metabolic pathways, i.e. metabolic engineering, e.g. nicotine, caffeine involving modified lipid metabolism, e.g. seed oil composition
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    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
    • C12Y—ENZYMES
    • C12Y203/00—Acyltransferases (2.3)
    • C12Y203/01—Acyltransferases (2.3) transferring groups other than amino-acyl groups (2.3.1)
    • C12Y203/01041—Beta-ketoacyl-acyl-carrier-protein synthase I (2.3.1.41)
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    • C12Y—ENZYMES
    • C12Y301/00—Hydrolases acting on ester bonds (3.1)
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K2319/00—Fusion polypeptide

Definitions

  • the disclosure relates generally to the fields of genome engineering and protein expression in plants.
  • the present disclosure relates to engineered DNA-binding domains, for example, zinc finger proteins, that target genes involved in fatty acid synthesis and methods of using such zinc finger proteins in modulating gene expression, gene inactivation, and targeted gene modification to generate plants with altered fatty acid profiles.
  • LDL low density lipoproteins
  • Diets high in saturated fats increase low density lipoproteins (LDL), which in turn causes the deposition of cholesterol on blood vessels, a pre-condition closely correlated with atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease ( Conner et al., Coronary Heart Disease: Prevention, Complications, and Treatment, J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1984 pp. 43-64 ,).
  • diets high in monounsaturated fats have been shown to reduce heart disease.
  • Oleic acid the only monounsaturated fat in most edible vegetable oils, lowers LDL as effectively as linoleic acid, but does not affect high density lipoproteins (HDL) levels ( Mensink et al. (1989) New England J. Med., 321:436-441 ).
  • diets high in monounsaturated fats are also correlated with reduced systolic blood pressure ( Williams et al. (1987) J. Am. Med. Assoc., 257:3
  • ZFPs can be used to engineer plants and, in particular, to enhance oil production by modifying the fatty acids. More particularly, ZFPs are used to regulate expression of the FAD2-1 gene in soy beans.
  • Zinc finger proteins are proteins that bind to DNA, RNA and/or protein, in a sequence-specific manner, by virtue of a metal stabilized domain known as a zinc finger. See, for example, Miller et al. (1985) EMBO J. 4:1609-1614 ; Rhodes et al. (1993) Sci. Amer. 268(2):56-65 ; and Klug (1999) J. Mol. Biol. 293:215-218 . ZFPs are commonly found in transcription factors, and to date, over 10,000 zinc finger sequences have been identified in several thousand known or putative transcription factors.
  • DNA-binding domains can also be used with nuclease domains to make engineered nucleases.
  • the DNA-binding domain of a homing endonuclease can be altered to generate novel homing endonucleases.
  • zinc finger domains have also been combined with nuclease cleavage domains to produce zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) for specific targeting of a double-stranded break to the region of a genome where modification (e.g ., deletion, mutation, homologous recombination, or insertion of an exogenous sequence) is desired (see, e.g., U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos.
  • Engineered ZFPs greatly facilitate the insertion of exogenous sequences or modification of endogenous sequences at specific target sites in plants and provide for targeted alteration of plant genomes with greater efficiencies than conventional methods (see, e.g., U.S. Patents Nos. 7,262,054 , 7,235,354 , 7,220,719 , 7,001,768 , and 6,534,261 ).
  • compositions and methods for targeted alteration of genes involved in fatty acid synthesis in order to produce plants and plant products (e.g ., plant oils) having selected fatty acids.
  • plant products e.g ., plant oils
  • oil-based food products which contain less saturated fats can be produced. Such products will benefit public health by reducing the incidence of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease.
  • the present disclosure describes compositions and methods for modulating expression and for targeted alteration in whole plants or plant cells of one or more plant genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis, thereby altering the fatty acid composition in the whole plant or plant cells.
  • Whole plants or plant cells can be from monocotyledonous (monocots) or dicotyledonous (dicots) plant species, including in some particular embodiments oil-producing plants, and also include cultured cells, cells in a plant at any stage of development, and plant cells that have been removed from a whole plant and which cells (or their descendants) will be regenerated into plants.
  • Plant cells can contain one or more homeologous or paralogous gene sequences, any number of which or all of which can be targeted for modification by the methods disclosed herein.
  • a DNA-binding domain e.g., zinc finger protein (ZFP)
  • ZFP zinc finger protein
  • the gene is a Brassica napus gene.
  • the Brassica napus gene can encode Acetyl-COA carboxylase (ACCase), ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetases (KAS, e.g., KAS I - KAS IV), Fatty acid thioesterase B (FATB, e.g., FATB1 - FATB5, or other plastidial thioesterases), Fatty acid synthase (FAS), Fatty acid elongase (FAE, e.g., FAE1), Fatty acid thioesterase A (FatA), Fatty acid desaturase (Fad2, Fad3), plastidial G-3-P dehydrogenase (GPDH), glycerokinase (GK), stearoyl-acyl carrier protein desaturase (S-ACP-DES), and oleoyl-ACP hydrolase.
  • ACCase Acetyl-COA carboxylase
  • KAS ⁇ -keto
  • the gene can be an ortholog or a homolog of these genes in other oil-producing plant species.
  • the present invention provides a fusion protein comprising a functional domain, which is a transcriptional regulatory domain or a cleavage domain and a non-naturally occurring zinc finger protein, which comprises the recognition helix regions shown in a single row of Table 1, wherein the fusion protein modulates expression of at least one endogenous ß-ketoacyl-ACP synthetase (KAS) gene. More preferably the KAS gene is contained within a Brassica plant.
  • the zinc finger protein binds to a target site as shown in Table 2.
  • fusion proteins comprising any of the DNA-binding domains (e.g ., ZFPs) described herein are also provided.
  • the fusion protein comprises a zinc finger protein and a transcriptional regulatory domain (e.g ., activation or repression domain), also known as a ZFP TF.
  • the fusion protein comprises a ZFP and a nuclease domain to form a zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) that cleaves in a genomic region of interest with the target gene.
  • ZFN zinc finger nuclease
  • the ZFN comprises a fusion polypeptide comprising an engineered zinc finger binding domain having specificity for a gene involved in a plant fatty acid biosynthesis pathway (e.g ., a gene encoding ACCase, KAS I, KAS II, KAS III, KAS IV, FATB1, FATB2, FATB3, FATB4, FATB5, FAS, FAE1, FatA, Fad2, Fad3, GPDH, GK, or S-ACP-DES) and a cleavage domain, and/or one or more fusion polypeptides comprising an engineered zinc finger binding domain and a cleavage half-domain.
  • the zinc finger binding domains bind to a target site as shown in Table 2 or Table 10A.
  • the zinc finger binding domains comprise a sequence selected from the group consisting of zinc finger proteins comprising the recognition domains (e.g., a single row) shown in Table 1 or Table 10B.
  • Cleavage domains and cleavage half domains can be obtained, for example, from various restriction endonucleases and/or homing endonucleases.
  • the cleavage half-domains are derived from a Type IIS restriction endonuclease (e.g., Fok I).
  • the present invention provides a polynucleotide encoding one or more zinc finger proteins comprising the recognition helix regions shown in a single row of Table 1 or fusion proteins comprising a functional domain, which is a transcriptional regulatory domain or a cleavage domain and a non-naturally occurring zinc finger protein comprising the recognition helix regions shown in a single row of Table 1, wherein said fusion protein modulates expression of at least one endogenous ß-ketoacyl-ACP synthetase (KAS) gene.
  • KAS ß-ketoacyl-ACP synthetase
  • polynucleotides encoding any of the DNA-binding domains (e.g ., zinc finger proteins) and/or fusion proteins described herein.
  • described herein is a ZFP expression vector comprising a polynucleotide, encoding one or more ZFPs described herein, operably linked to a promoter.
  • one or more of the ZFPs are ZFNs.
  • the ZFPs and fusion proteins comprising these ZFPs may bind to and/or cleave a gene involved in fatty acid synthesis within the coding region of the gene or in a non-coding sequence within or adjacent to the gene, such as, for example, a leader sequence, trailer sequence or intron, or within a non-transcribed region, either upstream or downstream of the coding region.
  • the ZFPs or ZFNs bind to and/or cleave a coding sequence or a regulatory sequence of a gene involved in fatty acid biosynthesis.
  • compositions comprising one or more proteins, fusion proteins or polynucleotides as described herein.
  • Plant cells may contain one unique gene target or multiple paralogous copies of the same gene.
  • compositions may comprise one or more ZFP-containing proteins (and polynucleotides encoding same) that target one or more genes involved in fatty acid synthesis in a plant cell.
  • the ZFPs may target all paralogous or homeologous genes and selected particular paralogous or homeologous genes in a plant cell or a combination thereof.
  • a plant host cell comprising one or more proteins or polynucleotides (e.g ., ZFP expression vectors) as described herein.
  • the plant host cell may be stably transformed or transiently transfected or a combination thereof with one or more ZFP expression vectors.
  • the one or more ZFP expression vectors express one or more ZFNs in the plant host cell.
  • the one or more ZFP expression vectors express one or more ZFP TFs in the plant host cell.
  • a method of modifying one or more genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis in a plant cell comprising: (a) introducing, into the plant cell, one or more expression vectors encoding one or more ZFP TFs that bind to a target site in the one or more genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis under conditions such that the ZFP TFs is (are) expressed and expression of the one or more genes is modified, and more particularly the one or more zinc finger proteins, which comprise the recognition helix regions shown in a single row of Table 1, are expressed and the expression of one or more KAS genes is modified.
  • the modification comprises modulating expression of at least one KAS gene. Modulation may be activation or repression of the expression of at least one KAS gene.
  • At least one target site is in a ACCase, KAS I, KAS II, KAS III, KAS IV, FATB1, FATB2, FATB3, FATB4, FATB5, FAS, FAE1, FatA, Fad2, Fad3, GPDH, GK, and/or S-ACP-DES gene(s).
  • more than one gene involved in fatty acid biosynthesis is modulated.
  • the methods result in plant cells with modified fatty acid content, for example, a reduction of the amount of saturated fats in the plant cells.
  • the modified fatty acid content in the plant cells results in a modified fatty acid content in the seeds of the plant, for example, a reduction of the amount of saturated fats in the seeds of the plant.
  • the plant an oil-producing plant with modified fatty acid consent in the seeds of the oil-producing plant ( e.g ., reduced saturated fats).
  • the plant is a Brassica napus plant with modified fatty acid consent in the seeds of the Brassica napus plant (e.g., reduced saturated fats).
  • a method for cleaving one or more genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis in a plant cell comprising: (a) introducing, into the plant cell, one or more expression vectors encoding one or more nucleases (e.g ., ZFNs) that bind to a target site in the one or more genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis under conditions such that the nucleases ( e.g ., ZFN(s)) is (are) expressed and the one or more genes are cleaved, and more particularly at least one KAS gene is cleaved.
  • nucleases e.g ., ZFNs
  • At least one target site is in a gene encoding ACCase, KAS I, KAS II, KAS III, KAS IV, FATB1, FATB2, FATB3, FATB4, FATB5, FAS, FAE1, FatA, Fad2, Fad3, GPDH, GK, and/or S-ACP-DES.
  • more than one gene involved in fatty acid biosynthesis is cleaved.
  • cleavage of the one or more genes may result in deletion, addition and/or substitution of nucleotides in the cleaved region.
  • Also described herein is a method for introducing an exogenous sequence into the genome of a plant cell, the method comprising the steps of: (a) contacting the cell with an exogenous sequence (donor vector); and (b) expressing one or more nucleases (e.g ., zinc finger nucleases) as described herein in the cell, wherein the one or more nucleases cleave chromosomal DNA; such that cleavage of chromosomal DNA in step (b) stimulates incorporation of the donor vector into the genome by homologous recombination.
  • one or more nucleases e.g ., zinc finger nucleases
  • the one or more nucleases are fusions between the cleavage domain of a Type IIs restriction endonuclease and an engineered zinc finger binding domain.
  • the nuclease comprises a homing endonuclease, for example a homing endonuclease with a modified DNA-binding domain.
  • the exogenous sequence may encode a protein product.
  • transgenic or a non-transgenic plant cell obtained according to any of the methods described herein is also provided.
  • a plant comprising a transgenic or a non-transgenic plant cell obtained as described herein.
  • a seed from a plant comprising a transgenic or non-transgenic plant cell obtained as described herein.
  • compositions and methods useful for modulation of expression and targeted cleavage and alteration of one or more genes involved in fatty acid synthesis in plants are modulated, e.g ., by using engineered ZFP transcription factors or modifying gene regulatory regions.
  • Genes can be altered, e.g ., by targeted cleavage followed by intrachromosomal homologous recombination or by targeted cleavage followed by homologous recombination between an exogenous polynucleotide (comprising one or more regions of homology with the gene nucleotide sequence) and a genomic sequence.
  • Genomic sequences include those present in chromosomes, episomes, organellar genomes (e.g ., mitochondria, plastids), artificial chromosomes and any other type of nucleic acid present in a cell such as, for example, amplified sequences, double minute chromosomes and the genomes of endogenous or infecting bacteria and viruses.
  • Genomic sequences can be normal ( i.e., wild-type) or mutant; mutant sequences can comprise, for example, insertions, deletions, translocations, rearrangements, and/or point mutations.
  • a genomic sequence can also comprise one of a number of different alleles.
  • compositions disclosed herein comprise one or more ZFPs comprising engineered zinc finger binding domains, polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides, and combinations of ZFPs and ZFP-encoding polynucleotides.
  • a zinc finger binding domain can comprise one or more zinc fingers (e.g., 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or more zinc fingers), and can be engineered to bind to any genomic sequence of a gene, including regulatory sequences operatively linked to the gene, involved in fatty-acid biosynthesis.
  • ZFPs as described herein can be used to regulate gene expression, either through activation or repression of gene transcription.
  • ZFPs comprising fusions of zinc finger domains linked to regulatory domains can be constructed to create chimeric transcription factors that activate or repress transcription.
  • ZFPs can also be used for targeted cleavage of a genomic region of interest by linking zinc finger domains with nuclease cleavage domains (or cleavage half-domains) to produce zinc finger nucleases.
  • a zinc finger protein comprising one or more fusion proteins comprising one or more regulatory domains and/or cleavage domains (or cleavage half-domains) linked to a zinc finger domain engineered to recognize a gene sequence in that genomic region.
  • the presence of such a ZFP comprising a fusion protein (or proteins) in a cell will result in binding of the fusion protein(s) to its (their) binding site(s) and altered regulation or cleavage within or near the genomic region.
  • homologous recombination occurs at a high rate between the genomic region and the exogenous polynucleotide.
  • compositions described herein may target one or more of these genes in a plant cell, including but not limited to ACCase, KAS I, KAS II, KAS III, KAS IV, FATB1, FATB2, FATB3, FATB4, FATB5, FAS, FAE1, FatA, Fad2, Fad3, GPDH, GK, or S-ACP-DES gene(s) and orthologs, paralogs, and homeologs of these genes.
  • proteins e.g ., ZFPs
  • ZFPs proteins
  • MOLECULAR CLONING A LABORATORY MANUAL, Second edition, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1989 and Third edition, 2001; Ausubel et al., CURRENT PROTOCOLS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1987 and periodic updates; the series METHODS IN ENZYMOLOGY, Academic Press, San Diego ; Wolffe, CHROMATIN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION, Third edition, Academic Press, San Diego, 1998 ; METHODS IN ENZYMOLOGY, Vol. 304, "Chromatin" (P.M. Wassarman and A. P.
  • nucleic acid refers to a deoxyribonucleotide or ribonucleotide polymer, in linear or circular conformation, and in either single- or double-stranded form.
  • polynucleotide refers to a deoxyribonucleotide or ribonucleotide polymer, in linear or circular conformation, and in either single- or double-stranded form.
  • these terms are not to be construed as limiting with respect to the length of a polymer.
  • the terms can encompass known analogues of natural nucleotides, as well as nucleotides that are modified in the base, sugar and/or phosphate moieties (e.g., phosphorothioate backbones).
  • an analogue of a particular nucleotide has the same base-pairing specificity; i.e., an analogue of A will base-pair with T.
  • polypeptide peptide
  • protein protein
  • amino acid polymers in which one or more amino acids are chemical analogues or modified derivatives of a corresponding naturally-occurring amino acids.
  • Binding refers to a sequence-specific, non-covalent interaction between macromolecules (e.g ., between a protein and a nucleic acid). Not all components of a binding interaction need be sequence-specific (e.g ., contacts with phosphate residues in a DNA backbone), as long as the interaction as a whole is sequence-specific. Such interactions are generally characterized by a dissociation constant (K d ) of 10 -6 M -1 or lower. "Affinity” refers to the strength of binding: increased binding affinity being correlated with a lower K d .
  • a "binding protein” is a protein that is able to bind non-covalently to another molecule.
  • a binding protein can bind to, for example, a DNA molecule (a DNA-binding protein), an RNA molecule (an RNA-binding protein) and/or a protein molecule (a protein-binding protein).
  • a DNA-binding protein a DNA-binding protein
  • an RNA-binding protein an RNA-binding protein
  • a protein-binding protein it can bind to itself (to form homodimers, homotrimers, etc. ) and/or it can bind to one or more molecules of a different protein or proteins.
  • a binding protein can have more than one type of binding activity. For example, zinc finger proteins have DNA-binding, RNA-binding and protein-binding activity.
  • a “zinc finger DNA binding protein” (or binding domain) is a protein, or a domain within a larger protein, that binds DNA in a sequence-specific manner through one or more zinc fingers, which are regions of amino acid sequence within the binding domain whose structure is stabilized through coordination of a zinc ion.
  • the term zinc finger DNA binding protein is often abbreviated as zinc finger protein or ZFP.
  • Zinc finger binding domains can be "engineered” to bind to a predetermined nucleotide sequence (e.g ., a target sequence in any gene involved in fatty acid biosynthesis).
  • a predetermined nucleotide sequence e.g ., a target sequence in any gene involved in fatty acid biosynthesis.
  • methods for engineering zinc finger proteins are design and selection.
  • a designed zinc finger protein is a protein not occurring in nature whose design/composition results principally from rational criteria. Rational criteria for design include application of substitution rules and computerized algorithms for processing information in a database storing information of existing ZFP designs and binding data. See, for example, U.S.
  • an "engineered" zinc finger protein or "non-naturally occurring" zinc finger protein is one in which one or more of the component zinc finger DNA binding domains (recognition helices) are not naturally occurring and have been engineered to bind to a pre-selected target site.
  • a "selected" zinc finger protein is a protein not found in nature whose production results primarily from an empirical process such as phage display, interaction trap or hybrid selection. See e.g., US 5,789,538 ; US 5,925,523 ; US 6,007,988 ; US 6,013,453 ; US 6,200,759 ; US 6,733,970 ; US RE39,229 ; and WO 95/19431 ; WO 96/06166 ; WO 98/53057 ; WO 98/54311 ; WO 00/27878 ; WO 01/60970 WO 01/88197 and WO 02/099084 .
  • sequence refers to a nucleotide sequence of any length, which can be DNA or RNA; can be linear, circular or branched and can be either single-stranded or double stranded.
  • donor sequence refers to a nucleotide sequence that is inserted into a genome.
  • a donor sequence can be of any length, for example between 2 and 25,000 nucleotides in length (or any integer value therebetween or thereabove), preferably between about 100 and 5,000 nucleotides in length (or any integer therebetween), more preferably between about 200 and 2,500 nucleotides in length.
  • a “homologous sequence” refers to a first sequence which shares a degree of sequence identity with a second sequence, and whose sequence may be identical to that of the second sequence.
  • a “homologous, non-identical sequence” refers to a first sequence which shares a degree of sequence identity with a second sequence, but whose sequence is not identical to that of the second sequence.
  • a polynucleotide comprising the wild-type sequence of a mutant gene is homologous and non-identical to the sequence of the mutant gene.
  • the degree of homology between the two sequences is sufficient to allow homologous recombination therebetween, by utilizing normal cellular mechanisms.
  • Two homologous non-identical sequences can be of any length and their degree of non-homology can be as small as a single nucleotide (e.g ., for correction of a genomic point mutation by targeted homologous recombination) or as large as 10 or more kilobases ( e.g ., for insertion of a gene at a predetermined site in a chromosome).
  • Two polynucleotides comprising the homologous non-identical sequences need not be the same length.
  • an exogenous polynucleotide i.e., donor polynucleotide
  • an exogenous polynucleotide i.e., donor polynucleotide of between 20 and 10,000 nucleotides or nucleotide pairs can be used.
  • nucleic acid and amino acid sequence identity are known in the art. Typically, such techniques include determining the nucleotide sequence of the mRNA for a gene and/or determining the amino acid sequence encoded thereby, and comparing these sequences to a second nucleotide or amino acid sequence. Genomic sequences can also be determined and compared in this fashion. In general, identity refers to an exact nucleotide-to-nucleotide or amino acid-to-amino acid correspondence of two polynucleotides or polypeptide sequences, respectively. Two or more sequences (polynucleotide or amino acid) can be compared by determining their percent identity.
  • the percent identity of two sequences is the number of exact matches between two aligned sequences divided by the length of the shorter sequences and multiplied by 100.
  • An approximate alignment for nucleic acid sequences is provided by the local homology algorithm of Smith and Waterman, Advances in Applied Mathematics 2:482-489 (1981 ). This algorithm can be applied to amino acid sequences by using the scoring matrix developed by Dayhoff, Atlas of Protein Sequences and Structure, M.O. Dayhoff ed., 5 suppl. 3:353-358 , National Biomedical Research Foundation, Washington, D.C., USA, and normalized by Gribskov, Nucl. Acids Res. 14(6):6745-6763 (1986 ).
  • the Smith-Waterman algorithm can be employed where default parameters are used for the scoring table (for example, gap open penalty of 12, gap extension penalty of one, and a gap of six). From the data generated the "Match" value reflects sequence identity.
  • Other suitable programs for calculating the percent identity or similarity between sequences are generally known in the art, for example, another alignment program is BLAST, used with default parameters.
  • percent identities between sequences are at least 35%-40%; 40%-45%; 45%-50%; 50%-60%; 60%-70%; 70-75%, preferably 80-82%, more preferably 85-90%, even more preferably 92%, still more preferably 95%, and most preferably 98% sequence identity.
  • the degree of sequence similarity between polynucleotides can be determined by hybridization of polynucleotides under conditions that allow formation of stable duplexes between homologous regions, followed by digestion with single-stranded-specific nuclease(s), and size determination of the digested fragments.
  • Two nucleic acid, or two polypeptide sequences are substantially homologous to each other when the sequences exhibit at least about 70%-75%, preferably 80%-82%, more preferably 85%-90%, even more preferably 92%, still more preferably 95%, and most preferably 98% sequence identity over a defined length of the molecules, as determined using the methods above.
  • substantially homologous also refers to sequences showing complete identity to a specified DNA or polypeptide sequence.
  • DNA sequences that are substantially homologous can be identified in a Southern hybridization experiment under, for example, stringent conditions, as defined for that particular system. Defining appropriate hybridization conditions is within the skill of the art. See, e.g., Sambrook et al., supra ; Nucleic Acid Hybridization: A Practical Approach, editors B.D. Hames and S.J. Higgins, (1985) Oxford; Washington, DC; IRL Press ).
  • Selective hybridization of two nucleic acid fragments can be determined as follows. The degree of sequence identity between two nucleic acid molecules affects the efficiency and strength of hybridization events between such molecules. A partially identical nucleic acid sequence will at least partially inhibit the hybridization of a completely identical sequence to a target molecule. Inhibition of hybridization of the completely identical sequence can be assessed using hybridization assays that are well known in the art (e.g ., Southern (DNA) blot, Northern (RNA) blot, solution hybridization, or the like, see Sambrook, et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Second Edition, (1989) Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y .).
  • Such assays can be conducted using varying degrees of selectivity, for example, using conditions varying from low to high stringency. If conditions of low stringency are employed, the absence of non-specific binding can be assessed using a secondary probe that lacks even a partial degree of sequence identity (for example, a probe having less than about 30% sequence identity with the target molecule), such that, in the absence of non-specific binding events, the secondary probe will not hybridize to the target.
  • a secondary probe that lacks even a partial degree of sequence identity (for example, a probe having less than about 30% sequence identity with the target molecule), such that, in the absence of non-specific binding events, the secondary probe will not hybridize to the target.
  • a nucleic acid probe When utilizing a hybridization-based detection system, a nucleic acid probe is chosen that is complementary to a reference nucleic acid sequence, and then by selection of appropriate conditions the probe and the reference sequence selectively hybridize, or bind, to each other to form a duplex molecule.
  • a nucleic acid molecule that is capable of hybridizing selectively to a reference sequence under moderately stringent hybridization conditions typically hybridizes under conditions that allow detection of a target nucleic acid sequence of at least about 10-14 nucleotides in length having at least approximately 70% sequence identity with the sequence of the selected nucleic acid probe.
  • Stringent hybridization conditions typically allow detection of target nucleic acid sequences of at least about 10-14 nucleotides in length having a sequence identity of greater than about 90-95% with the sequence of the selected nucleic acid probe.
  • Hybridization conditions useful for probe/reference sequence hybridization where the probe and reference sequence have a specific degree of sequence identity, can be determined as is known in the art (see, for example, Nucleic Acid Hybridization: A Practical Approach, editors B.D. Hames and S.J. Higgins, (1985) Oxford; Washington, DC; IRL Press ).
  • Hybridization stringency refers to the degree to which hybridization conditions disfavor the formation of hybrids containing mismatched nucleotides, with higher stringency correlated with a lower tolerance for mismatched hybrids.
  • Factors that affect the stringency of hybridization include, but are not limited to, temperature, pH, ionic strength, and concentration of organic solvents such as, for example, formamide and dimethylsulfoxide. As is known to those of skill in the art, hybridization stringency is increased by higher temperatures, lower ionic strength and lower solvent concentrations.
  • stringency conditions for hybridization it is well known in the art that numerous equivalent conditions can be employed to establish a particular stringency by varying, for example, the following factors: the length and nature of the sequences, base composition of the various sequences, concentrations of salts and other hybridization solution components, the presence or absence of blocking agents in the hybridization solutions (e.g., dextran sulfate, and polyethylene glycol), hybridization reaction temperature and time parameters, as well as, varying wash conditions.
  • the selection of a particular set of hybridization conditions is selected following standard methods in the art (see, for example, Sambrook, et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Second Edition, (1989) Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y .).
  • Recombination refers to a process of exchange of genetic information between two polynucleotides.
  • homologous recombination refers to the specialized form of such exchange that takes place, for example, during repair of double-strand breaks in cells. This process requires nucleotide sequence homology, uses a "donor” molecule for template repair of a "target” molecule ( i.e., the one that experienced the double-strand break), and is variously known as “non-crossover gene conversion” or “short tract gene conversion,” because it leads to the transfer of genetic information from the donor to the target.
  • such transfer can involve mismatch correction of heteroduplex DNA that forms between the broken target and the donor, and/or "synthesis-dependent strand annealing," in which the donor is used to resynthesize genetic information that will become part of the target, and/or related processes.
  • Such specialized HR often results in an alteration of the sequence of the target molecule such that part or all of the sequence of the donor polynucleotide is incorporated into the target polynucleotide.
  • Cleavage refers to the breakage of the covalent backbone of a DNA molecule. Cleavage can be initiated by a variety of methods including, but not limited to, enzymatic or chemical hydrolysis of a phosphodiester bond. Both single-stranded cleavage and double-stranded cleavage are possible, and double-stranded cleavage can occur as a result of two distinct single-stranded cleavage events. DNA cleavage can result in the production of either blunt ends or staggered ends. In certain embodiments, fusion polypeptides are used for targeted double-stranded DNA cleavage.
  • a “cleavage domain” comprises one or more polypeptide sequences which possesses catalytic activity for DNA cleavage.
  • a cleavage domain can be contained in a single polypeptide chain or cleavage activity can result from the association of two (or more) polypeptides.
  • a "cleavage half-domain” is a polypeptide sequence, which in conjunction with a second polypeptide (either identical or different) forms a complex having cleavage activity (preferably double-strand cleavage activity).
  • Chromatin is the nucleoprotein structure comprising the cellular genome.
  • Cellular chromatin comprises nucleic acid, primarily DNA, and protein, including histones and non-histone chromosomal proteins.
  • the majority of eukaryotic cellular chromatin exists in the form of nucleosomes, wherein a nucleosome core comprises approximately 150 base pairs of DNA associated with an octamer comprising two each of histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4; and linker DNA (of variable length depending on the organism) extends between nucleosome cores.
  • a molecule of histone H1 is generally associated with the linker DNA.
  • chromatin is meant to encompass all types of cellular nucleoprotein, both prokaryotic and eukaryotic.
  • Cellular chromatin includes both chromosomal and episomal chromatin.
  • a "chromosome,” is a chromatin complex comprising all or a portion of the genome of a cell.
  • the genome of a cell is often characterized by its karyotype, which is the collection of all the chromosomes that comprise the genome of the cell.
  • the genome of a cell can comprise one or more chromosomes.
  • an “episome” is a replicating nucleic acid, nucleoprotein complex or other structure comprising a nucleic acid that is not part of the chromosomal karyotype of a cell.
  • Examples of episomes include plasmids and certain viral genomes.
  • an "accessible region” is a site in cellular chromatin in which a target site present in the nucleic acid can be bound by an exogenous molecule which recognizes the target site. Without wishing to be bound by any particular theory, it is believed that an accessible region is one that is not packaged into a nucleosomal structure. The distinct structure of an accessible region can often be detected by its sensitivity to chemical and enzymatic probes, for example, nucleases.
  • a “target site” or “target sequence” is a nucleic acid sequence that defines a portion of a nucleic acid to which a binding molecule will bind, provided sufficient conditions for binding exist.
  • the sequence 5'-GAATTC-3' is a target site for the Eco RI restriction endonuclease.
  • exogenous molecule is a molecule that is not normally present in a cell, but can be introduced into a cell by one or more genetic, biochemical or other methods. "Normal presence in the cell" is determined with respect to the particular developmental stage and environmental conditions of the cell. Thus, for example, a molecule that is present only during embryonic development of muscle is an exogenous molecule with respect to an adult muscle cell. Similarly, a molecule induced by heat shock is an exogenous molecule with respect to a non-heat-shocked cell.
  • An exogenous molecule can comprise, for example, a functioning version of a malfunctioning endogenous molecule or a malfunctioning version of a normally-functioning endogenous molecule.
  • An exogenous molecule can be, among other things, a small molecule, such as is generated by a combinatorial chemistry process, or a macromolecule such as a protein, nucleic acid, carbohydrate, lipid, glycoprotein, lipoprotein, polysaccharide, any modified derivative of the above molecules, or any complex comprising one or more of the above molecules.
  • Nucleic acids include DNA and RNA, can be single- or double-stranded; can be linear, branched or circular; and can be of any length. Nucleic acids include those capable of forming duplexes, as well as triplex-forming nucleic acids. See, for example, U.S. Patent Nos. 5,176,996 and 5,422,251 .
  • Proteins include, but are not limited to, DNA-binding proteins, transcription factors, chromatin remodeling factors, methylated DNA binding proteins, polymerases, methylases, demethylases, acetylases, deacetylases, kinases, phosphatases, integrases, recombinases, ligases, topoisomerases, gyrases and helicases.
  • exogenous molecule can be the same type of molecule as an endogenous molecule, e.g ., an exogenous protein or nucleic acid.
  • an exogenous nucleic acid can comprise an infecting viral genome, an Agrobacterium tumefaciens T-strand, a plasmid or episome introduced into a cell, or a chromosome that is not normally present in the cell.
  • exogenous molecules include, but are not limited to, lipid-mediated transfer (i.e., liposomes, including neutral and cationic lipids), electroporation, direct injection, cell fusion, particle bombardment, calcium phosphate co-precipitation, DEAE-dextran-mediated transfer and viral vector-mediated transfer.
  • lipid-mediated transfer i.e., liposomes, including neutral and cationic lipids
  • electroporation direct injection
  • cell fusion particle bombardment
  • calcium phosphate co-precipitation e.g ., human or humanized
  • the exogenous molecule non-plant molecule, for example, a mammalian (e.g ., human or humanized) antibody.
  • an "endogenous" molecule is one that is normally present in a particular cell at a particular developmental stage under particular environmental conditions.
  • an endogenous nucleic acid can comprise a chromosome, the genome of a mitochondrion, chloroplast or other organelle, or a naturally-occurring episomal nucleic acid.
  • Additional endogenous molecules can include proteins, for example, transcription factors and enzymes.
  • a "fusion" molecule is a molecule in which two or more subunit molecules are linked, preferably covalently.
  • the subunit molecules can be the same chemical type of molecule, or can be different chemical types of molecules.
  • Examples of the first type of fusion molecule include, but are not limited to, fusion proteins (for example, a ZFN comprising a fusion between a ZFP DNA-binding domain and a cleavage domain) and fusion nucleic acids (for example, a nucleic acid encoding the fusion protein described supra ).
  • Examples of the second type of fusion molecule include, but are not limited to, a fusion between a triplex-forming nucleic acid and a polypeptide, and a fusion between a minor groove binder and a nucleic acid.
  • Fusion protein in a cell can result from delivery of the fusion protein to the cell or by delivery of a polynucleotide encoding the fusion protein to a cell, wherein the polynucleotide is transcribed, and the transcript is translated, to generate the fusion protein.
  • Trans-splicing, polypeptide cleavage and polypeptide ligation can also be involved in expression of a protein in a cell. Methods for polynucleotide and polypeptide delivery to cells are presented elsewhere in this disclosure.
  • Gene expression refers to the conversion of the information, contained in a gene, into a gene product.
  • a gene product can be the direct transcriptional product of a gene (e.g ., mRNA, tRNA, rRNA, antisense RNA, ribozyme, shRNA, micro RNA, structural RNA or any other type of RNA) or a protein produced by translation of a mRNA.
  • Gene products also include RNAs which are modified, by processes such as capping, polyadenylation, methylation, and editing, and proteins modified by, for example, methylation, acetylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitination, ADP-ribosylation, myristilation, and glycosylation.
  • Modulation of gene expression refers to a change in the activity of a gene. Modulation of expression can include, but is not limited to, gene activation and gene repression.
  • Plant cells include, but are not limited to, cells of monocotyledonous (monocots) or dicotyledonous (dicots) plants.
  • monocots include cereal plants such as maize, rice, barley, oats, wheat, sorghum, rye, sugarcane, pineapple, onion, banana, and coconut.
  • dicots include tobacco, tomato, sunflower, cotton, sugarbeet, potato, lettuce, melon, soybean, canola (rapeseed), and alfalfa.
  • Plant cells may be from any part of the plant and/or from any stage of plant development. Therefore, plant cells may be cells from seeds of the plant.
  • the plant or plant cell is, or is derived from, a plant involved in the production of vegetable oils for edible and/or industrial uses (i.e., an "oil-producing plant”).
  • oil-producing plants include, but are not limited to, Brassica sp. (e.g., Brassica napus including canola cultivars), maize, soybean, crambe, mustard, castor bean, peanut, sesame, cotton, linseed, safflower, oil palm, flax, sunflower, and coconut.
  • a "region of interest” is any region of cellular chromatin, such as, for example, a gene or a non-coding sequence within or adjacent to a gene, in which it is desirable to bind an exogenous molecule. Binding can be for the purposes of targeted DNA cleavage and/or targeted recombination.
  • a region of interest can be present in a chromosome, an episome, an organellar genome ( e.g ., mitochondrial, chloroplast), or an infecting viral genome, for example.
  • a region of interest can be within the coding region of a gene, within transcribed non-coding regions such as, for example, leader sequences, trailer sequences or introns, or within non-transcribed regions, either upstream or downstream of the coding region.
  • a region of interest can be as small as a single nucleotide pair or up to 25,000 nucleotide pairs in length, or any integral value of nucleotide pairs.
  • operative linkage and "operatively linked” (or “operably linked”) are used interchangeably with reference to a juxtaposition of two or more components (such as sequence elements), in which the components are arranged such that both components function normally and allow the possibility that at least one of the components can mediate a function that is exerted upon at least one of the other components.
  • a transcriptional regulatory sequence such as a promoter
  • a transcriptional regulatory sequence is generally operatively linked in cis with a coding sequence, but need not be directly adjacent to it.
  • an enhancer is a transcriptional regulatory sequence that is operatively linked to a coding sequence, even though they are not contiguous.
  • the term "operatively linked" can refer to the fact that each of the components performs the same function in linkage to the other component as it would if it were not so linked.
  • the ZFP DNA-binding domain and the regulatory domain are in operative linkage if, in the fusion polypeptide, the ZFP DNA-binding domain portion is able to bind its target site and/or its binding site, while the regulatory domain is able to regulate expression of DNA in the vicinity of the target site.
  • a "functional fragment" of a protein, polypeptide or nucleic acid is a protein, polypeptide or nucleic acid whose sequence is not identical to the full-length protein, polypeptide or nucleic acid, yet retains the same function as the full-length protein, polypeptide or nucleic acid.
  • a functional fragment can possess more, fewer, or the same number of residues as the corresponding native molecule, and/or can contain one ore more amino acid or nucleotide substitutions.
  • DNA-binding function of a polypeptide can be determined, for example, by filter-binding, electrophoretic mobility-shift, or immunoprecipitation assays. DNA cleavage can be assayed by gel electrophoresis. See Ausubel et al ., supra.
  • the ability of a protein to interact with another protein can be determined, for example, by co-immunoprecipitation, two-hybrid assays or complementation, both genetic and biochemical. See, for example, Fields et al. (1989) Nature 340:245-246 ; U.S. Patent No. 5,585,245 and PCT WO 98/44350 .
  • saturated fatty acids include, but are not limited to, lauric (C12:0), myristic (C14:0), palmitic (C16:0) and stearic (C18:0) acids.
  • monounsaturated fatty acids and “polyunsaturated fatty acids” include, but are not limited to, C18 fatty acids such as oleic acid (C18:1), reduced linoleic acid (C18:2) and reduced linolenic acid (C18:3).
  • the disclosed methods and compositions include fusion proteins comprising a DNA-binding domain (e.g ., ZFP) and a regulatory domain or cleavage (nuclease) domain (or a cleavage half-domain), in which the DNA-binding domain (e.g., zinc finger domain), by binding to a sequence in cellular chromatin in a gene involved in fatty acid synthesis, directs the activity of the transcriptional regulatory domain or cleavage domain (or cleavage half-domain) to the vicinity of the sequence and, hence, modulates transcription or induces cleavage in the vicinity of the target sequence.
  • a DNA-binding domain e.g ., ZFP
  • a regulatory domain or cleavage (nuclease) domain or a cleavage half-domain
  • the DNA-binding domain e.g., zinc finger domain
  • a zinc finger domain can be engineered to bind to virtually any desired sequence. Accordingly, after identifying a region of interest containing a sequence at which gene regulation, cleavage, or recombination is desired, one or more zinc finger binding domains can be engineered to bind to one or more sequences in the region of interest.
  • Target site selection for binding by a zinc finger domain (e.g ., a target site) can be accomplished, for example, according to the methods disclosed in co-owned US Patent No. 6,453,242 (Sept. 17, 2002 ), which also discloses methods for designing ZFPs to bind to a selected sequence. It will be clear to those skilled in the art that simple visual inspection of a nucleotide sequence can also be used for selection of a target site. Accordingly, any means for target site selection can be used in the claimed methods.
  • Target sites are generally composed of a plurality of adjacent target subsites.
  • a target subsite refers to the sequence (usually either a nucleotide triplet, or a nucleotide quadruplet that can overlap by one nucleotide with an adjacent quadruplet) bound by an individual zinc finger. See, for example, WO 02/077227 . If the strand with which a zinc finger protein makes most contacts is designated the target strand "primary recognition strand,” or "primary contact strand,” some zinc finger proteins bind to a three base triplet in the target strand and a fourth base on the non-target strand.
  • a target site generally has a length of at least 9 nucleotides and, accordingly, is bound by a zinc finger binding domain comprising at least three zinc fingers.
  • a zinc finger binding domain comprising at least three zinc fingers.
  • binding of, for example, a 4-finger binding domain to a 12-nucleotide target site, a 5-finger binding domain to a 15-nucleotide target site or a 6-finger binding domain to an 18-nucleotide target site is also possible.
  • binding of larger binding domains e.g ., 7-, 8-, 9-finger and more
  • a target site it is not necessary for a target site to be a multiple of three nucleotides.
  • a target site it is not necessary for a target site to be a multiple of three nucleotides.
  • one or more of the individual zinc fingers of a multi-finger binding domain can bind to overlapping quadruplet subsites.
  • a three-finger protein can bind a 10-nucleotide sequence, wherein the tenth nucleotide is part of a quadruplet bound by a terminal finger
  • a four-finger protein can bind a 13-nucleotide sequence, wherein the thirteenth nucleotide is part of a quadruplet bound by a terminal finger, etc.
  • the length and nature of amino acid linker sequences between individual zinc fingers in a multi-finger binding domain also affects binding to a target sequence.
  • a so-called “non-canonical linker,” “long linker” or “structured linker” between adjacent zinc fingers in a multi-finger binding domain can allow those fingers to bind subsites which are not immediately adjacent.
  • Non-limiting examples of such linkers are described, for example, in US Patent No. 6,479,626 and WO 01/53480 . Accordingly, one or more subsites, in a target site for a zinc finger binding domain, can be separated from each other by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or more nucleotides.
  • a four-finger binding domain can bind to a 13-nucleotide target site comprising, in sequence, two contiguous 3-nucleotide subsites, an intervening nucleotide, and two contiguous triplet subsites.
  • a 13-nucleotide target site comprising, in sequence, two contiguous 3-nucleotide subsites, an intervening nucleotide, and two contiguous triplet subsites.
  • ZFPs with transcription factor function are designed.
  • simple binding and sufficient proximity to the promoter are all that is generally needed. Exact positioning relative to the promoter, orientation, and within limits, distance does not matter greatly. This feature allows considerable flexibility in choosing target sites for constructing artificial transcription factors.
  • the target site recognized by the ZFP therefore can be any suitable site in the target gene that will allow activation or repression of gene expression by a ZFP, optionally linked to a regulatory domain.
  • Preferred target sites include regions adjacent to, downstream, or upstream of the transcription start site.
  • target sites that are located in enhancer regions, repressor sites, RNA polymerase pause sites, and specific regulatory sites (e.g ., SP-1 sites, hypoxia response elements, nuclear receptor recognition elements, p53 binding sites), sites in the cDNA encoding region or in an expressed sequence tag (EST) coding region.
  • specific regulatory sites e.g ., SP-1 sites, hypoxia response elements, nuclear receptor recognition elements, p53 binding sites
  • ZFPs with nuclease activity are designed.
  • Expression of a ZFN comprising a fusion protein comprising a zinc finger binding domain and a cleavage domain (or of two fusion proteins, each comprising a zinc finger binding domain and a cleavage half-domain), in a cell effects cleavage in the vicinity of the target sequence.
  • cleavage depends on the binding of two zinc finger domain/cleavage half-domain fusion molecules to separate target sites.
  • the two target sites can be on opposite DNA strands, or alternatively, both target sites can be on the same DNA strand.
  • the DNA binding domain comprises a zinc finger binding domain of one or more zinc fingers ( Miller et al. (1985) EMBO J. 4:1609-1614 ; Rhodes (1993) Scientific American Feb.:56-65 ; US Patent No. 6,453,242 ).
  • a single zinc finger domain is about 30 amino acids in length.
  • each zinc finger domain contains two beta sheets (held in a beta turn which contains the two invariant cysteine residues) and an alpha helix (containing the two invariant histidine residues), which are held in a particular conformation through coordination of a zinc atom by the two cysteines and the two histidines.
  • Zinc fingers include both canonical C 2 H 2 zinc fingers ( i.e., those in which the zinc ion is coordinated by two cysteine and two histidine residues) and non-canonical zinc fingers such as, for example, C 3 H and C 2 HC zinc fingers (those in which the zinc ion is coordinated by three cysteine residues and one histidine residue, see, e.g., U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0182332 ) and C 4 zinc fingers (those in which the zinc ion is coordinated by four cysteine residues). See also WO 02/057293 .
  • Zinc finger binding domains can be engineered to bind to a sequence of choice. See, for example, Beerli et al. (2002) Nature Biotechnol. 20:135-141 ; Pabo et al. (2001) Ann. Rev. Biochem. 70:313-340 ; Isalan et al. (2001) Nature Biotechnol. 19:656-660 ; Segal et al. (2001) Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 12:632-637 ; Choo et al. (2000) Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 10:411-416 .
  • An engineered (or non-naturally occurring) zinc finger binding domain can have a novel binding specificity, compared to a naturally-occurring zinc finger protein.
  • Engineering methods include, but are not limited to, rational design and various types of selection. Rational design includes, for example, using databases comprising triplet (or quadruplet) nucleotide sequences and individual zinc finger amino acid sequences, in which each triplet or quadruplet nucleotide sequence is associated with one or more amino acid sequences of zinc fingers which bind the particular triplet or quadruplet sequence. See, for example, co-owned U.S. Patents 6,453,242 and 6,534,261 . Additional design methods are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Patents 6,746,838 ; 6,785,613 ; 6,866,997 ; and 7,030,215 .
  • Exemplary selection methods including phage display and two-hybrid systems, are disclosed in US Patents 5,789,538 ; 5,925,523 ; 6,007,988 ; 6,013,453 ; 6,410,248 ; 6,140,466 ; 6,200,759 ; and 6,242,568 ; as well as WO 98/37186 ; WO 98/53057 ; WO 00/27878 ; WO 01/88197 and GB 2,338,237 .
  • the length of a sequence to which a zinc finger binding domain is engineered to bind e.g., a target sequence will determine the number of zinc fingers in an engineered zinc finger binding domain.
  • binding sites for individual zinc fingers (i.e., subsites) in a target site need not be contiguous, but can be separated by one or several nucleotides, depending on the length and nature of the amino acids sequences between the zinc fingers ( i.e., the inter-finger linkers) in a multi-finger binding domain.
  • adjacent zinc fingers can be separated by amino acid linker sequences of approximately 5 amino acids (so-called “canonical” inter-finger linkers) or, alternatively, by one or more non-canonical linkers.
  • canonical inter-finger linkers amino acid linker sequences of approximately 5 amino acids
  • non-canonical linkers amino acid linker sequences of approximately 5 amino acids
  • non-canonical linkers amino acid linker sequences of approximately 5 amino acids
  • non-canonical linkers e.g ., co-owned US Patent Nos. 6,453,242 and 6,534,261 .
  • insertion of longer (non-canonical") inter-finger linkers between certain of the zinc fingers may be preferred as it may increase the affinity and/or specificity of binding by the binding domain. See, for example, U.S. Patent No. 6,479,626 and WO 01/53480 .
  • multi-finger zinc finger binding domains can also be characterized with respect to the presence and location of non-canonical inter-finger linkers.
  • a six-finger zinc finger binding domain comprising three fingers (joined by two canonical inter-finger linkers), a long linker and three additional fingers (joined by two canonical inter-finger linkers) is denoted a 2x3 configuration.
  • a binding domain comprising two fingers (with a canonical linker therebetween), a long linker and two additional fingers (joined by a canonical linker) is denoted a 2x2 protein.
  • a protein comprising three two-finger units (in each of which the two fingers are joined by a canonical linker), and in which each two-finger unit is joined to the adjacent two finger unit by a long linker, is referred to as a 3x2 protein.
  • a long or non-canonical inter-finger linker between two adjacent zinc fingers in a multi-finger binding domain often allows the two fingers to bind to subsites which are not immediately contiguous in the target sequence. Accordingly, there can be gaps of one or more nucleotides between subsites in a target site; i.e., a target site can contain one or more nucleotides that are not contacted by a zinc finger.
  • a 2x2 zinc finger binding domain can bind to two six-nucleotide sequences separated by one nucleotide, i.e., it binds to a 13-nucleotide target site. See also Moore et al. (2001a) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98:1432-1436 ; Moore et al. (2001b) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98:1437-1441 and WO 01/53480 .
  • a target subsite is a three- or four-nucleotide sequence that is bound by a single zinc finger.
  • a two-finger unit is denoted a binding module.
  • a binding module can be obtained by, for example, selecting for two adjacent fingers in the context of a multi-finger protein (generally three fingers) which bind a particular six-nucleotide target sequence.
  • modules can be constructed by assembly of individual zinc fingers. See also WO 98/53057 and WO 01/53480 .
  • a zinc finger binding domain comprising an amino acid sequence as shown in Table 1.
  • the disclosure provides a polynucleotide encoding a zinc finger binding domain, wherein the zinc finger binding domain comprises an amino acid sequence as shown in Table 1.
  • the DNA-binding domain may be derived from a nuclease.
  • the recognition sequences of homing endonucleases and meganucleases such as I- Sce I, I- Ceu I, PI -Psp I, PI -Sce , I- Sce IV, I- Csm I, I- Pan I, I- Sce II, I- Ppo I, I- Sce III, I -Cre I, I- Tev I, I- Tev II and I- Tev III are known. See also U.S. Patent No. 5,420,032 ; U.S. Patent No. 6,833,252 ; Belfort et al. (1997) Nucleic Acids Res.
  • the DNA-binding domains (e.g ., ZFPs) described herein can optionally be associated with regulatory domains for modulation of gene expression.
  • the ZFP can be covalently or non-covalently associated with one or more regulatory domains, alternatively two or more regulatory domains, with the two or more domains being two copies of the same domain, or two different domains.
  • the regulatory domains can be covalently linked to the ZFP, e.g ., via an amino acid linker, as part of a fusion protein.
  • the ZFPs can also be associated with a regulatory domain via a non-covalent dimerization domain, e.g ., a leucine zipper, a STAT protein N terminal domain, or an FK506 binding protein (see, e.g., O'Shea, Science 254: 539 (1991 ), Barahmand-Pour et al, Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 211:121-128 (1996 ); Klemm et al., Annu. Rev. Immunol. 16:569-592 (1998 ); Klemm et al., Annu. Rev. Immunol.
  • a non-covalent dimerization domain e.g ., a leucine zipper, a STAT protein N terminal domain, or an FK506 binding protein
  • the regulatory domain can be associated with the ZFP at any suitable position, including the C- or N-terminus of the ZFP.
  • Common regulatory domains for addition to the ZFP include, e.g ., effector domains from transcription factors (activators, repressors, co-activators, co-repressors), silencers, nuclear hormone receptors, oncogene transcription factors (e.g.
  • DNA repair enzymes and their associated factors and modifiers DNA rearrangement enzymes and their associated factors and modifiers; chromatin associated proteins and their modifiers ( e.g ., kinases, acetylases and deacetylases); and DNA modifying enzymes ( e.g ., methyltransferases, topoisomerases, helicases, ligases, kinases, phosphatases, polymerases, endonucleases) and their associated factors and modifiers.
  • DNA repair enzymes and their associated factors and modifiers DNA rearrangement enzymes and their associated factors and modifiers
  • chromatin associated proteins and their modifiers e.g ., kinases, acetylases and deacetylases
  • DNA modifying enzymes e.g methyltransferases, topoisomerases, helicases, ligases, kinases, phosphatases, polymerases, endonucleases
  • Transcription factor polypeptides from which one can obtain a regulatory domain include those that are involved in regulated and basal transcription.
  • Such polypeptides include transcription factors, their effector domains, coactivators, silencers, nuclear hormone receptors (see, e.g. , Goodrich et al., Cell 84:825-30 (1996 ) for a review of proteins and nucleic acid elements involved in transcription; transcription factors in general are reviewed in Barnes and Adcock, Clin. Exp. Allergy 25 Suppl. 2:46-9 (1995 ) and Roeder, Methods Enzymol. 273:165-71(1996 )).
  • Nuclear hormone receptor transcription factors are described in, for example, Rosen et al., J Med. Chem.
  • TATA box binding protein TBP
  • TAF30, TAF55, TAF80, TAF 10, TAFI 50, and TAF250 TATA box binding protein
  • TAF30, TAF55, TAF80, TAF 10, TAFI 50, and TAF250 TAF30, TAF55, TAF80, TAF 10, TAFI 50, and TAF250
  • TAF30, TAF55, TAF80, TAF 10, TAFI 50, and TAF250 TAF30, TAF55, TAF80, TAF 10, TAFI 50, and TAF250
  • the STAT family of transcription factors are reviewed in, for example, Barahmand-Pour et al., Curr. Top. Microbial Immunol. 211:121-8 (1996 ). Transcription factors involved in disease are reviewed in Aso et al., J Clin. Invest. 97:1561-9 (1996 ).
  • the KRAB repression domain from the human KOX-1 protein is used as a transcriptional repressor ( Thiesen et al., New Biologist 2:363-374 (1990 ); Margolin et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 91:4509-4513 (1994 ); Pengue et al., Naccl. Acids Res. 22:2908-2914 (1994 ); Witzgall et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 91:4514-4518 (1994 )).
  • KAP-1 a KRAB co-repressor
  • KRAB Friedman et al., Genes Dev.
  • KAP-1 can be used alone with a ZFP.
  • Other preferred transcription factors and transcription factor domains that act as transcriptional repressors include MAD (see, e.g ., Sommer et al., J. Biol. Chem. 273:6632-6642 (1998 ); Gupta et al., Oncogene 16:1149-1159 (1998 ); Queva et al., Oncogene 16:967-977 (1998 ); Larsson et al., Oncogene 15:737-748 (1997 ); Laherty et al., Cell 89:349-356 (1997 ); and Cultraro et al, Mol Cell. Biol.
  • FKHR forkhead in rhapdosarcoma gene; Ginsberg et al., Cancer Res. 15:3542-3546 (1998 ); Epstein et al, Mol. Cell. Biol. 18:4118-4130 (1998 )); EGR-1 (early growth response gene product-1; Yan et al., Proc. Natl. Acad Sci USA 95:8298-8303 (1998 ); and Liu et al., Cancer Gene Ther.
  • ETD ets2 repressor factor repressor domain
  • MAD MAD smSIN3 interaction domain
  • ERF3 ethylene response factor-3 amphiphilic repression domain
  • the HSV VP16 activation domain is used as a transcriptional activator (see, e.g., Hagmann et al., J. Virol. 71:5952-5962 (1997 )).
  • Other preferred transcription factors that could supply activation domains include the VP64 activation domain ( Seipel et al., EMBO J. 11:4961-4968 (1996 )); nuclear hormone receptors (see, e.g., Torchia et al., Curr. Opin. Cell. Biol. 10:373-383 (1998 )); the p65 subunit of nuclear factor kappa B ( Bitko and Barik, J. Virol.
  • EGR-1 head growth response gene product-1
  • Yan et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 95:8298-8303 (1998 ); and Liu et al., Cancer Gene Ther. 5:3-28 (1998 )
  • C1 maize anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway regulatory protein, C1 ( S.A. Goff, et al, , (1991), Genetics and Development 5:298-309 ).
  • Kinases, phosphatases, and other proteins that modify polypeptides involved in gene regulation are also useful as regulatory domains for ZFPs. Such modifiers are often involved in switching on or off transcription mediated by, for example, hormones.
  • Kinases involved in transcriptional regulation are reviewed in Davis, Mol. Reprod. Dev. 42:459-67 (1995 ), Jackson et al., Adv. Second Messenger Phosphoprotein Res. 28:279-86 (1993 ), and Boulikas, Crit. Rev. Eukaryot. Gene Expr. 5:1-77 (1995 ), while phosphatases are reviewed in, for example, Schonthal and Semin, Cancer Biol. 6:239-48 (1995 ). Nuclear tyrosine kinases are described in Wang, Trends Biochem. Sci. 19:373-6 (1994 ).
  • useful domains can also be obtained from the gene products of oncogenes (e.g ., myc, jun, fos, myb, max, mad, rel, ets, bcl, myb, mos family members) and their associated factors and modifiers.
  • Oncogenes are described in, for example, Cooper, Oncogenes, 2nd ed., The Jones and Bartlett Series in Biology, Boston, Mass., Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 1995 .
  • the ets transcription factors are reviewed in Waslylk et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 211:7-18 (1993 ) and Crepieux et al., Crit. Rev. Oncog. 5:615-38 (1994 ).
  • Myc oncogenes are reviewed in, for example, Ryan et al., Biochem. J. 314:713-21 (1996 ).
  • the jun and fos transcription factors are described in, for example, The Fos and Jun Families of Transcription Factors, Angel and Herrlich, eds. (1994 ).
  • the max oncogene is reviewed in Hurlin et al., Cold Spring Harb. Symp. Quant. Biol. 59:109-16 .
  • the myb gene family is reviewed in Kanei-Ishii et al., Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 211:89-98 (1996 ).
  • the mos family is reviewed in Yew et al., Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 3:19-25 (1993 ).
  • ZFPs can include regulatory domains obtained from DNA repair enzymes and their associated factors and modifiers.
  • DNA repair systems are reviewed in, for example, Vos, Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 4:385-95 (1992 ); Sancar, Ann. Rev. Genet. 29:69-105 (1995 ); Lehmann, Genet. Eng. 17:1-19 (1995 ); and Wood, Ann. Rev. Biochem. 65:135-67 (1996 ).
  • DNA rearrangement enzymes and their associated factors and modifiers can also be used as regulatory domains (see, e.g ., Gangloff et al., Experientia 50:261-9 (1994 ); Sadowski, FASEB J. 7:760-7 (1993 )).
  • regulatory domains can be derived from DNA modifying enzymes (e.g ., DNA methyltransferases, topoisomerases, helicases, ligases, kinases, phosphatases, polymerases) and their associated factors and modifiers.
  • DNA modifying enzymes e.g ., DNA methyltransferases, topoisomerases, helicases, ligases, kinases, phosphatases, polymerases
  • Helicases are reviewed in Matson et al., Bioessays, 16:13-22 (1994 ), and methyltransferases are described in Cheng, Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 5:4-10 (1995 ).
  • Chromatin associated proteins and their modifiers e.g ., kinases, acetylases and deacetylases
  • histone deacetylase Wolffe, Science 272:371-2 (1996 )
  • the regulatory domain is a DNA methyl transferase that acts as a transcriptional repressor (see, e.g ., Van den Wyngaert et al., FEBS Lett. 426:283-289 (1998 ); Flynn et al., J. Mol. Biol. 279:101-116 (1998 ); Okano et al., Nucleic Acids Res.
  • endonucleases such as Fok 1 are used as transcriptional repressors, which act via gene cleavage (see, e.g., WO95/09233 ; and PCT/US94/01201 ).
  • Factors that control chromatin and DNA structure, movement and localization and their associated factors and modifiers; factors derived from microbes (e.g., prokaryotes, eukaryotes and virus) and factors that associate with or modify them can also be used to obtain chimeric proteins.
  • recombinases and integrases are used as regulatory domains.
  • histone acetyltransferase is used as a transcriptional activator (see, e.g., Jin and Scotto, Mol. Cell. Biol.
  • histone deacetylase is used as a transcriptional repressor (see, e.g., Jin and Scotto, Mol. Cell. Biol. 18:4377-4384 (1998 ); Syntichaki and Thireos, J. Biol. Chem. 273:24414-24419 (1998 ); Sakaguchi et al., Genes Dev. 12:2831-2841 (1998 ); and Martinez et al, J. Biol. Chem. 273:23781-23785 (1998 )).
  • Linker domains between polypeptide domains can be included.
  • Such linkers are typically polypeptide sequences, such as poly gly sequences of between about 5 and 200 amino acids.
  • Linkers can be flexible or rigid amino acid subsequences which are synthesized as part of a recombinant fusion protein. See, e.g ., U.S. Patent No. 6,534,261 ; Liu et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 95:5525-5530 (1997 ); Pomerantz et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci.
  • flexible linkers can be rationally designed using computer program capable of modeling both DNA-binding sites and the peptides themselves ( Desjarlais and Berg, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 90:2256-2260 (1993 ), Desjarlais and Berg, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 91:11099-11103 (1994 ) or by phage display methods.
  • a chemical linker is used to connect synthetically or recombinantly produced domain sequences.
  • Such flexible linkers are known to persons of skill in the art.
  • poly(ethylene glycol) linkers are available from Shearwater Polymers, Inc. Huntsville, Ala. These linkers optionally have amide linkages, sulfhydryl linkages, or heterofunctional linkages.
  • non-covalent methods can be used to produce molecules with ZFPs associated with regulatory domains.
  • the DNA-binding domain may also be associated with a cleavage (nuclease) domain.
  • cleavage endonucleases may be modified in their DNA-binding specificity while retaining nuclease function.
  • zinc finger proteins may also be fused to a cleavage domain to form a zinc finger nuclease (ZFN).
  • ZFN zinc finger nuclease
  • the cleavage domain portion of the fusion proteins disclosed herein can be obtained from any endonuclease or exonuclease.
  • Exemplary endonucleases from which a cleavage domain can be derived include, but are not limited to, restriction endonucleases and homing endonucleases.
  • a cleavage half-domain can be derived from any nuclease or portion thereof, as set forth above, that requires dimerization for cleavage activity.
  • two fusion proteins are required for cleavage if the fusion proteins comprise cleavage half-domains.
  • a single protein comprising two cleavage half domains can be used.
  • the two cleavage half-domains can be derived from the same endonuclease (or functional fragments thereof), or each cleavage half-domain can be derived from a different endonuclease (or functional fragments thereof).
  • the target sites for the two fusion proteins are preferably disposed, with respect to each other, such that binding of the two fusion proteins to their respective target sites places the cleavage half-domains in a spatial orientation to each other that allows the cleavage half-domains to form a functional cleavage domain, e.g ., by dimerizing.
  • the near edges of the target sites are separated by 5-8 nucleotides or by 15-18 nucleotides.
  • any integral number of nucleotides or nucleotide pairs can intervene between two target sites ( e.g ., from 2 to 50 nucleotide pairs or more).
  • the site of cleavage lies between the target sites.
  • Restriction endonucleases are present in many species and are capable of sequence-specific binding to DNA (at a recognition site), and cleaving DNA at or near the site of binding.
  • Certain restriction enzymes e.g ., Type IIS
  • Fok I catalyzes double-stranded cleavage of DNA, at 9 nucleotides from its recognition site on one strand and 13 nucleotides from its recognition site on the other. See, for example, US Patents 5,356,802 ; 5,436,150 and 5,487,994 ; as well as Li et al.
  • fusion proteins comprise the cleavage domain (or cleavage half-domain) from at least one Type IIS restriction enzyme and one or more zinc finger binding domains, which may or may not be engineered.
  • Fok I An exemplary Type IIS restriction enzyme, whose cleavage domain is separable from the binding domain, is Fok I.
  • This particular enzyme is active as a dimer. Bitinaite et al. (1998) Proc. Natl. Acas Sci. USA 95: 10,570-10,575 .
  • the portion of the Fok I enzyme used in the disclosed fusion proteins is considered a cleavage half-domain.
  • two fusion proteins, each comprising a Fok I cleavage half-domain can be used to reconstitute a catalytically active cleavage domain.
  • a single polypeptide molecule containing a zinc finger binding domain and two Fok I cleavage half-domains can also be used. Parameters for targeted cleavage and targeted sequence alteration using zinc finger- Fok I fusions are provided elsewhere in this disclosure.
  • a cleavage domain or cleavage half-domain can be any portion of a protein that retains cleavage activity, or that retains the ability to multimerize ( e.g ., dimerize) to form a functional cleavage domain.
  • Type IIS restriction enzymes are described in International Publication WO 07/014275 . Additional restriction enzymes also contain separable binding and cleavage domains, and these are contemplated by the present disclosure. See, for example, Roberts et al. (2003) Nucleic Acids Res. 31:418-420 .
  • the cleavage domain comprises one or more engineered cleavage half-domain (also referred to as dimerization domain mutants) that minimize or prevent homodimerization, as described, for example, in U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 20050064474 ; 20060188987 ; 20080131962 .
  • Amino acid residues at positions 446, 447, 479, 483, 484, 486, 487, 490, 491, 496, 498, 499, 500, 531, 534, 537, and 538 of Fok I are all targets for influencing dimerization of the Fok I cleavage half-domains.
  • Exemplary engineered cleavage half-domains of Fok I that form obligate heterodimers include a pair in which a first cleavage half-domain includes mutations at amino acid residues at positions 490 and 538 of Fok I and a second cleavage half-domain includes mutations at amino acid residues 486 and 499.
  • the mutation at 490 replaces Glu (E) with Lys (K); the mutation at 538 replaces Iso (I) with Lys (K); the mutation at 486 replaced Gln (Q) with Glu (E); and the mutation at position 499 replaces Iso (I) with Lys (K).
  • the engineered cleavage half-domains described herein were prepared by mutating positions 490 (E ⁇ K) and 538 (I ⁇ K) in one cleavage half-domain to produce an engineered cleavage half-domain designated "E490K:I538K” and by mutating positions 486 (Q ⁇ E) and 499 (I ⁇ L) in another cleavage half-domain to produce an engineered cleavage half-domain designated "Q486E:I499L".
  • the engineered cleavage half-domains described herein are obligate heterodimer mutants in which aberrant cleavage is minimized or abolished. See, e.g., Example 1 of U.S. Patent Publication No.
  • the engineered cleavage half-domain comprises mutations at positions 486, 499 and 496 (numbered relative to wild-type FokI), for instance mutations that replace the wild type Gln (Q) residue at position 486 with a Glu (E) residue, the wild type Iso (I) residue at position 499 with a Leu (L) residue and the wild-type Asn (N) residue at position 496 with an Asp (D) or Glu (E) residue (also referred to as a "ELD” and "ELE" domains, respectively).
  • the engineered cleavage half-domain comprises mutations at positions 490, 538 and 537 (numbered relative to wild-type FokI), for instance mutations that replace the wild type Glu (E) residue at position 490 with a Lys (K) residue, the wild type Iso (I) residue at position 538 with a Lys (K) residue, and the wild-type His (H) residue at position 537 with a Lys (K) residue or a Arg (R) residue (also referred to as "KKK” and "KKR” domains, respectively).
  • the engineered cleavage half-domain comprises mutations at positions 490 and 537 (numbered relative to wild-type FokI), for instance mutations that replace the wild type Glu (E) residue at position 490 with a Lys (K) residue and the wild-type His (H) residue at position 537 with a Lys (K) residue or a Arg (R) residue (also referred to as "KIK” and "KIR” domains, respectively).
  • the engineered cleavage half domain comprises the "Sharkey” and/or “Sharkey' " mutations (see Guo et al, (2010) J. Mol. Biol. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2010.04.060 ).
  • Engineered cleavage half-domains described herein can be prepared using any suitable method, for example, by site-directed mutagenesis of wild-type cleavage half-domains ( Fok I) as described in U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 20050064474 and 20080131962 .
  • Another preferred Type IIS restriction enzyme is BfiI (see Zaremba et al, (2004) J. Mol Biol. 336(1):81-92 ).
  • the cleavage domain of this enzyme may be separated from its DNA binding domain and operably linked to a zinc finger DNA binding domain to create a ZFN.
  • fusion proteins and polynucleotides encoding same are known to those of skill in the art.
  • methods for the design and construction of fusion proteins comprising DNA-binding domains (e.g., zinc finger domains) and regulatory or cleavage domains (or cleavage half-domains), and polynucleotides encoding such fusion proteins, are described in co-owned U.S. Patents 6,453,242 and 6,534,261 and U.S. Patent Application Publications 2007/0134796 and 2005/0064474 .
  • polynucleotides encoding the fusion proteins are constructed. These polynucleotides can be inserted into a vector and the vector can be introduced into a cell (see below for additional disclosure regarding vectors and methods for introducing polynucleotides into cells).
  • the fusion protein comprises a zinc finger protein that binds to a target site in a gene involved in fatty acid biosynthesis and at least one transcriptional regulatory domain, for example an activation or repression domain.
  • a zinc finger nuclease comprises a fusion protein comprising a zinc finger binding domain and a cleavage half-domain from the Fok I restriction enzyme, and two such fusion proteins are expressed in a cell.
  • Expression of two fusion proteins in a cell can result from delivery of the two proteins to the cell; delivery of one protein and one nucleic acid encoding one of the proteins to the cell; delivery of two nucleic acids, each encoding one of the proteins, to the cell; or by delivery of a single nucleic acid, encoding both proteins, to the cell.
  • a fusion protein comprises a single polypeptide chain comprising two cleavage half domains and a zinc finger binding domain. In this case, a single fusion protein is expressed in a cell and, without wishing to be bound by theory, is believed to cleave DNA as a result of formation of an intramolecular dimer of the cleavage half-domains.
  • the components of the zinc finger nucleases are arranged such that the zinc finger domain is nearest the amino terminus of the fusion protein, and the cleavage half-domain is nearest the carboxy-terminus. This mirrors the relative orientation of the cleavage domain in naturally-occurring dimerizing cleavage domains such as those derived from the Fok I enzyme, in which the DNA-binding domain is nearest the amino terminus and the cleavage half-domain is nearest the carboxy terminus.
  • dimerization of the cleavage half-domains to form a functional nuclease is brought about by binding of the fusion proteins to sites on opposite DNA strands, with the 5' ends of the binding sites being proximal to each other.
  • the components of the fusion proteins are arranged such that the cleavage half-domain is nearest the amino terminus of the fusion protein, and the zinc finger domain is nearest the carboxy-terminus.
  • dimerization of the cleavage half-domains to form a functional nuclease is brought about by binding of the fusion proteins to sites on opposite DNA strands, with the 3' ends of the binding sites being proximal to each other.
  • a first fusion protein contains the cleavage half-domain nearest the amino terminus of the fusion protein, and the zinc finger domain nearest the carboxy-terminus
  • a second fusion protein is arranged such that the zinc finger domain is nearest the amino terminus of the fusion protein, and the cleavage half-domain is nearest the carboxy-terminus.
  • both fusion proteins bind to the same DNA strand, with the binding site of the first fusion protein containing the zinc finger domain nearest the carboxy terminus located to the 5' side of the binding site of the second fusion protein containing the zinc finger domain nearest the amino terminus.
  • the disclosed fusion proteins the amino acid sequence between the zinc finger domain and the cleavage domain (or cleavage half-domain) is denoted the "ZC linker.”
  • the ZC linker is to be distinguished from the inter-finger linkers discussed above. See, e.g., U.S. Patent Publications 20050064474A1 and 20030232410 , and International Patent Publication WO05/084190 for details on obtaining ZC linkers that optimize cleavage.
  • the disclosure provides a ZFN comprising a zinc finger protein having the recognition helix amino acid sequences shown in a single row of Table 1.
  • a ZFN expression vector comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a ZFP having the recognition helices shown in Table 1 or Table 10.
  • a variety of assays can be used to determine whether a ZFP modulates gene expression.
  • the activity of a particular ZFP can be assessed using a variety of in vitro and in vivo assays, by measuring, e.g., protein or mRNA levels, product levels, enzyme activity; transcriptional activation or repression of a reporter gene, using, e.g ., immunoassays (e.g ., ELISA and immunohistochemical assays with antibodies), hybridization assays (e.g., RNase protection, northerns, in situ hybridization, oligonucleotide array studies), colorimetric assays, amplification assays, enzyme activity assays, phenotypic assays, and the like.
  • immunoassays e.g ELISA and immunohistochemical assays with antibodies
  • hybridization assays e.g., RNase protection, northerns, in situ hybridization, oligonucleotide array studies
  • ZFPs are typically first tested for activity in vitro using ELISA assays and then using kidney cells.
  • the ZFP is often first tested using a transient expression system with a reporter gene, and then regulation of the target endogenous gene is tested in cells and in whole plants, both in vivo and ex vivo.
  • the ZFP can be recombinantly expressed in a cell, recombinantly expressed in cells transplanted into a plant, or recombinantly expressed in a transgenic plant, as well as administered as a protein to plant or cell using delivery vehicles described below.
  • the cells can be immobilized, be in solution, be injected into a plant, or be naturally occurring in a transgenic or non-transgenic plant.
  • Modulation of gene expression is tested using one of the in vitro or in vivo assays described herein. Samples or assays are treated with a ZFP and compared to control samples without the test compound, to examine the extent of modulation.
  • the ZFP typically has a K d of 200 nM or less, more preferably 100 nM or less, more preferably 50 nM, most preferably 25 nM or less.
  • the effects of the ZFPs can be measured by examining any of the parameters described above. Any suitable gene expression, phenotypic, or physiological change can be used to assess the influence of a ZFP.
  • Any suitable gene expression, phenotypic, or physiological change can be used to assess the influence of a ZFP.
  • the functional consequences are determined using intact cells or plants, one can also measure a variety of effects such as plant growth, transcriptional changes to both known and uncharacterized genetic markers (e.g ., northern blots or oligonucleotide array studies), changes in cell metabolism such as cell growth or pH changes, and changes in intracellular second messengers such as cGMP.
  • Preferred assays for ZFP regulation of endogenous gene expression can be performed in vitro.
  • ZFP regulation of endogenous gene expression in cultured cells is measured by examining protein production using an ELISA assay. The test sample is compared to control cells treated with an empty vector or an unrelated ZFP that is targeted to another gene.
  • ZFP regulation of endogenous gene expression is determined in vitro by measuring the level of target gene mRNA expression.
  • the level of gene expression is measured using amplification, e.g ., using PCR, LCR, or hybridization assays, e.g ., northern hybridization, RNase protection, dot blotting.
  • the level of protein or mRNA is detected using directly or indirectly labeled detection agents, e.g ., fluorescently or radioactively labeled nucleic acids, radioactively or enzymatically labeled antibodies, and the like, as described herein.
  • a reporter gene system can be devised using the target gene promoter operably linked to a reporter gene such as luciferase, green fluorescent protein, CAT, or ⁇ -gal.
  • a reporter gene such as luciferase, green fluorescent protein, CAT, or ⁇ -gal.
  • the reporter construct is typically co-transfected into a cultured cell. After treatment with the ZFP of choice, the amount of reporter gene transcription, translation, or activity is measured according to standard techniques known to those of skill in the art.
  • Transgenic and non-transgenic plants are also used for examining regulation of endogenous gene expression in vivo.
  • Transgenic plants can stably express the ZFP of choice.
  • plants that transiently express the ZFP of choice, or to which the ZFP has been administered in a delivery vehicle, can be used. Regulation of endogenous gene expression is tested using any one of the assays described herein.
  • the disclosed methods and compositions can be used to cleave DNA at a region of interest in cellular chromatin (e.g ., at a desired or predetermined site in a genome, for example, within or adjacent to a gene involved in fatty acid biosynthesis).
  • a zinc finger binding domain is engineered to bind a target site at or near the predetermined cleavage site, and a fusion protein comprising the engineered zinc finger binding domain and a cleavage domain is expressed in a cell.
  • the DNA is cleaved near the target site by the cleavage domain.
  • the exact site of cleavage can depend on the length of the ZC linker.
  • two fusion proteins each comprising a zinc finger binding domain and a cleavage half-domain, are expressed in a cell, and bind to target sites which are juxtaposed in such a way that a functional cleavage domain is reconstituted and DNA is cleaved in the vicinity of the target sites.
  • cleavage occurs between the target sites of the two zinc finger binding domains.
  • One or both of the zinc finger binding domains can be engineered.
  • the binding site can encompass the cleavage site, or the near edge of the binding site can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 25, 50 or more nucleotides (or any integral value between 1 and 50 nucleotides) from the cleavage site.
  • the exact location of the binding site, with respect to the cleavage site, will depend upon the particular cleavage domain, and the length of the ZC linker.
  • the binding sites generally straddle the cleavage site.
  • the near edge of the first binding site can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 25 or more nucleotides (or any integral value between 1 and 50 nucleotides) on one side of the cleavage site
  • the near edge of the second binding site can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 25 or more nucleotides (or any integral value between 1 and 50 nucleotides) on the other side of the cleavage site.
  • the methods described herein can employ an engineered zinc finger binding domain fused to a cleavage domain.
  • the binding domain is engineered to bind to a target sequence, at or near where cleavage is desired.
  • the fusion protein, or a polynucleotide encoding same is introduced into a plant cell. Once introduced into, or expressed in, the cell, the fusion protein binds to the target sequence and cleaves at or near the target sequence. The exact site of cleavage depends on the nature of the cleavage domain and/or the presence and/or nature of linker sequences between the binding and cleavage domains.
  • the distance between the near edges of the binding sites can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 25 or more nucleotides (or any integral value between 1 and 50 nucleotides).
  • Optimal levels of cleavage can also depend on both the distance between the binding sites of the two fusion proteins (see, for example, Smith et al. (2000) Nucleic Acids Res. 28:3361-3369 ; Bibikova et al. (2001) Mol. Cell. Biol. 21:289-297 ) and the length of the ZC linker in each fusion protein. See, also , U.S. Patent Publication 20050064474A1 and International Patent Publications WO05/084190 WO05/014791 and WO03/080809 .
  • the cleavage domain comprises two cleavage half-domains, both of which are part of a single polypeptide comprising a binding domain, a first cleavage half-domain and a second cleavage half-domain.
  • the cleavage half-domains can have the same amino acid sequence or different amino acid sequences, so long as they function to cleave the DNA.
  • Cleavage half-domains may also be provided in separate molecules.
  • two fusion polypeptides may be introduced into a cell, wherein each polypeptide comprises a binding domain and a cleavage half-domain.
  • the cleavage half-domains can have the same amino acid sequence or different amino acid sequences, so long as they function to cleave the DNA.
  • the binding domains bind to target sequences which are typically disposed in such a way that, upon binding of the fusion polypeptides, the two cleavage half-domains are presented in a spatial orientation to each other that allows reconstitution of a cleavage domain ( e.g ., by dimerization of the half-domains), thereby positioning the half-domains relative to each other to form a functional cleavage domain, resulting in cleavage of cellular chromatin in a region of interest.
  • cleavage by the reconstituted cleavage domain occurs at a site located between the two target sequences.
  • One or both of the proteins can be engineered to bind to its target site.
  • the two fusion proteins can bind in the region of interest in the same or opposite polarity, and their binding sites (i.e., target sites) can be separated by any number of nucleotides, e.g ., from 0 to 200 nucleotides or any integral value therebetween.
  • the binding sites for two fusion proteins, each comprising a zinc finger binding domain and a cleavage half-domain can be located between 5 and 18 nucleotides apart, for example, 5-8 nucleotides apart, or 15-18 nucleotides apart, or 6 nucleotides apart, or 16 nucleotides apart, as measured from the edge of each binding site nearest the other binding site, and cleavage occurs between the binding sites.
  • the site at which the DNA is cleaved generally lies between the binding sites for the two fusion proteins. Double-strand breakage of DNA often results from two single-strand breaks, or "nicks," offset by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or more nucleotides, (for example, cleavage of double-stranded DNA by native Fok I results from single-strand breaks offset by 4 nucleotides). Thus, cleavage does not necessarily occur at exactly opposite sites on each DNA strand.
  • the structure of the fusion proteins and the distance between the target sites can influence whether cleavage occurs adjacent a single nucleotide pair, or whether cleavage occurs at several sites. However, for many applications, including targeted recombination and targeted mutagenesis (see infra ) cleavage within a range of nucleotides is generally sufficient, and cleavage between particular base pairs is not required.
  • the fusion protein(s) can be introduced as polypeptides and/or polynucleotides.
  • two polynucleotides, each comprising sequences encoding one of the aforementioned polypeptides, can be introduced into a cell, and when the polypeptides are expressed and each binds to its target sequence, cleavage occurs at or near the target sequence.
  • a single polynucleotide comprising sequences encoding both fusion polypeptides is introduced into a cell.
  • Polynucleotides can be DNA, RNA or any modified forms or analogues or DNA and/or RNA.
  • single cleavage half-domains can exhibit limited double-stranded cleavage activity.
  • either protein specifies an approximately 9-nucleotide target site.
  • the aggregate target sequence of 18 nucleotides is likely to be unique in a mammalian and plant genomes, any given 9-nucleotide target site occurs, on average, approximately 23,000 times in the human genome.
  • non-specific cleavage due to the site-specific binding of a single half-domain, may occur.
  • the methods described herein contemplate the use of a dominant-negative mutant of a cleavage half-domain such as Fok I (or a nucleic acid encoding same) that is expressed in a cell along with the two fusion proteins.
  • the dominant-negative mutant is capable of dimerizing but is unable to cleave, and also blocks the cleavage activity of a half-domain to which it is dimerized.
  • By providing the dominant-negative mutant in molar excess to the fusion proteins only regions in which both fusion proteins are bound will have a high enough local concentration of functional cleavage half-domains for dimerization and cleavage to occur. At sites where only one of the two fusion proteins is bound, its cleavage half-domain forms a dimer with the dominant negative mutant half-domain, and undesirable, non-specific cleavage does not occur.
  • a nucleic acid encoding one or more proteins (e.g ., ZFPs) as described herein can be cloned into a vector for transformation into prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells for replication and/or expression.
  • Vectors can be prokaryotic vectors, e.g ., plasmids, or shuttle vectors, insect vectors, viral vectors, or eukaryotic vectors.
  • a nucleic acid encoding a ZFP can also be cloned into an expression vector, for administration to a plant cell.
  • sequences encoding the ZFPs are typically subcloned into an expression vector that contains a promoter to direct transcription.
  • Suitable bacterial and eukaryotic promoters are well known in the art and described, e.g., in Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual (2nd ed. 1989; 3rd ed., 2001 ); Kriegler, Gene Transfer and Expression: A Laboratory Manual Stockton Press, New York (1990 ); and Current Protocols in Molecular Biology (Ausubel et al., supra .
  • Bacterial expression systems for expressing the ZFP are available in, e.g., E.
  • Kits for such expression systems are commercially available.
  • Eukaryotic expression systems for mammalian, plant, yeast, and insect cells are well known by those of skill in the art and are also commercially available.
  • the promoter used to direct expression of a ZFP-encoding nucleic acid depends on the particular application. For example, a strong constitutive promoter suited to the host cell is typically used for expression and purification of ZFPs.
  • a constitutive or an inducible promoter is used, depending on the particular use of the ZFP.
  • plant promoters include promoter sequences derived from A. thaliana ubiquitin-3 (ubi-3) ( Callis, et al., 1990, J. Biol. Chem. 265-12486-12493 ); A. tumefaciens mannopine synthase ( ⁇ mas) ( Petolino et al., U.S. Patent No. 6,730,824 ); and/or Cassava Vein Mosaic Virus (CsVMV) ( Verdaguer et al., (1996), Plant Molecular Biology 31:1129-1139 ). See, also , Examples.
  • the expression vector typically contains a transcription unit or expression cassette that contains all the additional elements required for the expression of the nucleic acid in host cells, either prokaryotic or eukaryotic.
  • a typical expression cassette thus contains a promoter operably linked, e.g., to a nucleic acid sequence encoding the ZFP, and signals required, e.g., for efficient polyadenylation of the transcript, transcriptional termination, ribosome binding sites, or translation termination.
  • Additional elements of the cassette may include, e.g .; enhancers, heterologous splicing signals, and/or a nuclear localization signal (NLS).
  • the particular expression vector used to transport the genetic information into the cell is selected with regard to the intended use of the ZFP, e.g., expression in plants, animals, bacteria, fungus, protozoa, etc. (see expression vectors described below).
  • Standard bacterial and animal expression vectors are known in the art and are described in detail, for example, U.S. Patent Publication 20050064474A1 and International Patent Publications WO05/084190 WO05/014791 and WO03/080809 .
  • Standard transfection methods can be used to produce bacterial, mammalian, plant, yeast or insect cell lines that express large quantities of protein, which can then be purified using standard techniques (see, e.g., Colley et al., J. Biol. Chem. 264:17619-17622 (1989 ); Guide to Protein Purification, in Methods in Enzymology, vol. 182 (Deutscher, ed., 1990 )). Transformation of eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells are performed according to standard techniques ( see, e.g., Morrison, J. Bact. 132:349-351 (1977 ); Clark-Curtiss and Curtiss, Methods in Enzymology 101:347-362 (Wu et al., eds., 1983 ).
  • Any of the well known procedures for introducing foreign nucleotide sequences into such host cells may be used. These include the use of calcium phosphate transfection, polybrene, protoplast fusion, electroporation, ultrasonic methods ( e.g ., sonoporation), liposomes, microinjection, naked DNA, plasmid vectors, viral vectors, both episomal and integrative, and any of the other well known methods for introducing cloned genomic DNA, cDNA, synthetic DNA or other foreign genetic material into a host cell ( see, e.g. , Sambrook et al ., supra ). It is only necessary that the particular genetic engineering procedure used be capable of successfully introducing at least one gene into the host cell capable of expressing the protein of choice.
  • DNA constructs may be introduced into ( e.g ., into the genome of) a desired plant host by a variety of conventional techniques.
  • the DNA construct may be introduced directly into the genomic DNA of the plant cell using techniques such as electroporation and microinjection of plant cell protoplasts, or the DNA constructs can be introduced directly to plant tissue using biolistic methods, such as DNA particle bombardment (see, e.g., Klein et al., (1987) Nature 327:70-73 ).
  • the DNA constructs may be combined with suitable T-DNA flanking regions and introduced into a conventional Agrobacterium tumefaciens host vector.
  • Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation techniques, including disarming and use of binary vectors, are well described in the scientific literature. See, for example Horsch et al., (1984) Science 233:496-498 , and Fraley et al., (1983) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 80:4803 .
  • gene transfer may be achieved using non-Agrobacterium bacteria or viruses such as Rhizobium sp. NGR234, Sinorhizoboium meliloti, Mesorhizobium loti, potato virus X, cauliflower mosaic virus and cassava vein mosaic virus and/or tobacco mosaic virus, See, e.g., Chung et al. (2006) Trends Plant Sci. 11(1):1-4 .
  • non-Agrobacterium bacteria or viruses such as Rhizobium sp. NGR234, Sinorhizoboium meliloti, Mesorhizobium loti, potato virus X, cauliflower mosaic virus and cassava vein mosaic virus and/or tobacco mosaic virus, See, e.g., Chung et al. (2006) Trends Plant Sci. 11(1):1-4 .
  • the virulence functions of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens host will direct the insertion of the construct and adjacent marker into the plant cell DNA when the cell is infected by the bacteria using binary T-DNA vector ( Bevan (1984) Nuc. Acid Res. 12:8711-8721 ) or the co-cultivation procedure ( Horsch et al. (1985) Science 227:1229-1231 ).
  • binary T-DNA vector Bevan (1984) Nuc. Acid Res. 12:8711-8721
  • the co-cultivation procedure Horsch et al. (1985) Science 227:1229-1231 .
  • the Agrobacterium transformation system is used to engineer dicotyledonous plants ( Bevan et al., (1982) Ann. Rev. Genet 16:357-384 ; Rogers et al., (1986) Methods Enzymol. 118:627-641 ).
  • the Agrobacterium transformation system may also be used to transform, as well as transfer, DNA to monocotyledonous plants and plant cells. See U.S. Patent No. 5, 591,616 ; Hernalsteen et al., (1984) EMBO J 3:3039-3041 ; Hooykass-Van Slogteren et al., (1984) Nature 311:763-764 ; Grimsley et al. (1987) Nature 325:1677-179 ; Boulton et al., (1989) Plant Mol. Biol. 12:31-40 .; and Gould et al., (1991) Plant Physiol. 95:426-434 .
  • Alternative gene transfer and transformation methods include, but are not limited to, protoplast transformation through calcium-, polyethylene glycol (PEG)- or electroporation-mediated uptake of naked DNA (see Paszkowski et al. (1984) EMBO J 3:2717-2722 , Potrykus et al. (1985) Molec. Gen. Genet. 199:169-177 ; Fromm et al. (1985) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 82:5824-5828 ; and Shimamoto (1989) Nature 338:274-276 ) and electroporation of plant tissues ( D'Halluin et al. (1992) Plant Cell 4:1495-1505 ).
  • PEG polyethylene glycol
  • Additional methods for plant cell transformation include microinjection, silicon carbide mediated DNA uptake ( Kaeppler et al. (1990) Plant Cell Reporter 9:415-418 ), and microprojectile bombardment (see Klein et al. (1988) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 85:4305-4309 ; and Gordon-Kamm et al. (1990) Plant Cell 2:603-618 ) or nanoparticles.
  • the disclosed methods and compositions can be used to insert exogenous sequences into a predetermined location in a plant cell genome. This is useful inasmuch as expression of an introduced transgene into a plant genome depends critically on its integration site. Accordingly, genes encoding, e.g ., nutrients, antibiotics or therapeutic molecules can be inserted, by targeted recombination, into regions of a plant genome favorable to their expression.
  • Transformed plant cells which are produced by any of the above transformation techniques can be cultured to regenerate a whole plant which possesses the transformed genotype and thus the desired phenotype.
  • Such regeneration techniques rely on manipulation of certain phytohormones in a tissue culture growth medium, typically relying on a biocide and/or herbicide marker which has been introduced together with the desired nucleotide sequences.
  • Plant regeneration from cultured protoplasts is described in Evans, et al., "Protoplasts Isolation and Culture” in Handbook of Plant Cell Culture, pp. 124-176, Macmillian Publishing Company, New York, 1983 ; and Binding, Regeneration of Plants, Plant Protoplasts, pp. 21-73, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1985 .
  • Regeneration can also be obtained from plant callus, explants, organs, pollens, embryos or parts thereof.
  • Such regeneration techniques are described generally in Klee et al. (1987) Ann. Rev. of Plant Phys. 38:467
  • Nucleic acids introduced into a plant cell can be used to confer desired traits on essentially any plant.
  • a wide variety of plants and plant cell systems may be engineered for the desired physiological and agronomic characteristics described herein using the nucleic acid constructs of the present disclosure and the various transformation methods mentioned above.
  • Target plants and plant cells for engineering include, but are not limited to, those monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants, such as crops including grain crops (e.g ., wheat, maize, rice, millet, barley), fruit crops (e.g ., tomato, apple, pear, strawberry, orange), forage crops ( e.g., alfalfa), root vegetable crops (e.g., carrot, potato, sugar beets, yam), leafy vegetable crops ( e.g ., lettuce, spinach); flowering plants ( e.g., petunia, rose, chrysanthemum), conifers and pine trees ( e.g., pine fir, spruce); plants used in phytoremediation ( e.g ., heavy metal accumulating plants); oil crops ( e.g ., sunflower, rape seed, soybean) and plants used for experimental purposes ( e.g., Arabidopsis ) .
  • crops including grain crops (e.g
  • the disclosed methods and compositions have use over a broad range of plants, including, but not limited to, species from the genera Asparagus, Avena, Brassica, Citrus, Citrullus, Capsicum, Cucurbita, Daucus, Erigeron, Glycine, Gossypium, Hordeum, Lactuca, Lolium, Lycopersicon, Malus, Manihot, Nicotiana, Orychophragmus, Oryza, Persea, Phaseolus, Pisum, Pyrus, Prunus, Raphanus, Secale, Solanum, Sorghum, Triticum, Vitis, Vigna, and Zea.
  • the expression cassette is stably incorporated in transgenic plants and confirmed to be operable, it can be introduced into other plants by sexual crossing. Any of a number of standard breeding techniques can be used, depending upon the species to be crossed.
  • a transformed plant cell, callus, tissue or plant may be identified and isolated by selecting or screening the engineered plant material for traits encoded by the marker genes present on the transforming DNA. For instance, selection may be performed by growing the engineered plant material on media containing an inhibitory amount of the antibiotic or herbicide to which the transforming gene construct confers resistance. Further, transformed plants and plant cells may also be identified by screening for the activities of any visible marker genes (e.g., the ⁇ -glucuronidase, luciferase, B or C1 genes) that may be present on the recombinant nucleic acid constructs. Such selection and screening methodologies are well known to those skilled in the art.
  • any visible marker genes e.g., the ⁇ -glucuronidase, luciferase, B or C1 genes
  • Physical and biochemical methods also may be used to identify plant or plant cell transformants containing inserted gene constructs. These methods include but are not limited to: 1) Southern analysis or PCR amplification for detecting and determining the structure of the recombinant DNA insert; 2) Northern blot, S1 RNase protection, primer-extension or reverse transcriptase-PCR amplification for detecting and examining RNA transcripts of the gene constructs; 3) enzymatic assays for detecting enzyme or ribozyme activity, where such gene products are encoded by the gene construct; 4) protein gel electrophoresis, Western blot techniques, immunoprecipitation, or enzyme-linked immunoassays, where the gene construct products are proteins.
  • RNA e.g., mRNA
  • Effects of gene manipulation using the methods disclosed herein can be observed by, for example, northern blots of the RNA (e.g., mRNA) isolated from the tissues of interest. Typically, if the amount of mRNA has increased, it can be assumed that the corresponding endogenous gene is being expressed at a greater rate than before. Other methods of measuring gene and/or CYP74B activity can be used. Different types of enzymatic assays can be used, depending on the substrate used and the method of detecting the increase or decrease of a reaction product or by-product.
  • the levels of and/or CYP74B protein expressed can be measured immunochemically, i.e., ELISA, RIA, EIA and other antibody based assays well known to those of skill in the art, such as by electrophoretic detection assays (either with staining or western blotting).
  • the transgene may be selectively expressed in some tissues of the plant or at some developmental stages, or the transgene may be expressed in substantially all plant tissues, substantially along its entire life cycle. However, any combinatorial expression mode is also applicable.
  • the present disclosure also encompasses seeds of the transgenic plants described above wherein the seed has the transgene or gene construct, and including seeds with desired modified oil profiles.
  • the present disclosure further encompasses the progeny, clones, cell lines or cells of the transgenic plants described above wherein said progeny, clone, cell line or cell has the transgene or gene construct.
  • Administration of effective amounts is by any of the routes normally used for introducing ZFPs into ultimate contact with the plant cell to be treated.
  • the ZFPs are administered in any suitable manner, preferably with acceptable carriers. Suitable methods of administering such modulators are available and well known to those of skill in the art, and, although more than one route can be used to administer a particular composition, a particular route can often provide a more immediate and more effective reaction than another route.
  • Carriers may also be used and are determined in part by the particular composition being administered, as well as by the particular method used to administer the composition. Accordingly, there is a wide variety of suitable formulations of compositions that are available.
  • targeted modulation of genes involved in fatty acid synthesis can be used to quickly and efficiently generate plant oils of the desired fatty acid profile.
  • fatty acid compositions of plant oils from oil-producing plants has profound implications for food production and, consequently, on dietary health.
  • canola-quality oilseed Brassica varieties with reduced levels of saturated fatty acids in the seed oil can be used to produce food products which promote cardiovascular health.
  • the methods and compositions described herein can be used to generate oil-producing plants with low palmitic and/or stearic acid content, which reduce the levels of saturated fatty acids in the plant oil.
  • generating oil-producing plants with increased levels of oleic acid content will also reduce the amount of saturated fatty acids in the plant oil.
  • compositions described herein can be used to increase palmitic acid content, for example in oils produced from such plants. Oils high in palmitic acid content are particularly useful in the formulation of margarines.
  • targeted alteration of fatty acid profiles as described herein can be used to generate plants (and plant oils) which are low in linolenic acid.
  • Low linolenic acid oils show increased stability; foods made using these oils do not go off in terms of flavor or odor as quickly as foods made from plant materials with high linolenic acid concentrations.
  • KAS II ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II
  • ZFP TF engineered zinc-finger protein transcription factors
  • the enzyme ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II catalyzes the conversion of 16:0-ACP to 18:0-ACP and the subsequent formation of oleic acid ( Ohlrogge and Browse, 1995, The Plant Cell, 7: 957-970 ).
  • a reported Arabidopsis thaliana fab1 mutant of the ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II gene resulted in a 65% reduction in enzyme activity and concomitant increases of stearic acid content by 7% and 3% in leaves and roots, respectively ( Wu et al., 1994, Plant Physiology, 106: 143-150 ).
  • a stably expressing transformed soybean ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II transgene in canola decreased seed palmitic acid content by 0.8% and introduction of the same gene in tobacco decreased the palmitic acid content by 2% (Japanese Patent Publication # 501446/1995 ).
  • Morinaga, 1934, Cytologia, 6:62-67 ; U.N., 1935, Japanese J. Bot., 7:389-452 it is predicted that there would be more than one ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II gene in this species.
  • the additional 5' UTR sequences present in the cDNA sequences were identified and obtained.
  • These 5' ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II gene sequences served as targets for transcriptional up-regulation via ZFP- TFs in the present examples.
  • Rapid amplification of cDNA ends was performed using FIRSTCHOICE ® RLM-RACE kit from Ambion (Ambion, Austin, TX) per manufacturer's recommendations.
  • a synthetic RNA adapter was annealed to the 5' uncapped mRNA region.
  • a primer supplied with the kit (5'-CGCGGATCCGAACACTGCGTTTGCTGGCTTTGATGAAA - 3') (SEQ ID NO:1) and a second primer (5'- CTCGAGCTGCTACTGCTAGTTCCGGTGGAGGAGCC - 3') (SEQ ID NO:2) which was designed to bind within the partial B. napus cDNA sequence (GenBank AF244520) were used to amplify a fragment to determine the unknown upstream sequence.
  • the 5' RACE amplification identified about 500 base pairs of new B. napus sequences.
  • ZFP TF binding sequences were identified in the 5' cDNA sequences of ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II genes.
  • Plasmid constructs: pDAB4695, pDAB4696, pDAB4697, and pDAB4698 containing the engineered ZFP TF designs were used to stably transform B. napus as described in the next sections. It was hypothesized that engineered ZFP TFs upon expression in plant cells would bind to the endogenous ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II targets resulting in modified mRNA expression of the target.
  • Example 2 Design of ZFP DNA binding domains specific to ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II gene
  • Zinc finger proteins were designed against various targets sites in the B. napus ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II gene promoter region and 5' untranslated and translated region. See, Figure 2 .
  • the recognition helices for representative ZFP designs are shown below in Table 1.
  • Target sites of the zinc finger designs are shown below in Table 2.
  • Table 1 ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II Zinc finger Designs ZFP F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 14025 RSDNLSV (SEQ ID NO:5) QKINLQV (SEQ ID NO: 6) RSDTLSE (SEQ ID NO:7) TRSSRIN (SEQ ID NO:8) RSDALAR (SEQ ID NO:9) N/A 14033 RSDHLSA (SEQ ID NO:10) TSSSRIN (SEQ ID NO:11) RSDNLAR (SEQ ID NO:12) DRSHLAR (SEQ ID NO:13) RSDNLSE (SEQ ID NO:14) RNAHRTT (SEQ ID NO:15) 14035 QSGNLAR (SEQ ID NO:16) RSDHLSE (SEQ ID NO:17) QKANRTK (SEQ ID NO:18) RSDDLTR (SEQ ID NO:19) TSANLSR (SEQ ID NO:20) N/A 14047 RSDDLSK (SEQ ID NO:21) RSANL
  • the ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II designs were incorporated into zinc finger expression vectors encoding a protein having at least one finger with a CCHC structure. See, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0182332 .
  • the last finger in each protein had a CCHC structure (architecture).
  • the zinc finger-encoding sequences were then fused to sequences encoding a VP16 activation domain and an opaque-2 nuclear localization signal. Expression of the fusion proteins was driven by a relatively strong constitutive promoter such as a promoter derived from the Arabidopsis thaliana Ubiquitin 10 (AtUbi10) promoter. Exemplary vectors are shown in Table 3 below.
  • Example 3 ZFP TF-mediated up-regulation of the native ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II gene(s) in B. napus
  • DNA encoding zinc-finger proteins can be delivered into plant cells under conditions where the DNA is not incorporated into the plant cell genome. Thus, the DNA molecule is transiently maintained in plant cells and acts as a template for gene expression.
  • DNA encoding zinc-finger proteins can be delivered into plant cells under conditions that allow the DNA to be incorporated into the plant cell genome, resulting in transgenesis of the zinc-finger protein encoding genes such that the DNA molecule is stably maintained in the plant cells and acts as a template for gene expression.
  • One skilled in the art may utilize either transient or transgenic expression of zinc-finger proteins encoding DNAs in order to assess the functionality of these proteins in living plant cells.
  • pDAB4695 is a binary plasmid which contains the 14025 v3 / VP 16 and pat gene expression cassettes. This construct includes the following gene elements; RB7 MAR v3 (Matrix Attachment Region ( Thompson et al., 1997, WO9727207 )) :: AtUbi10 Promoter v2 ( Arabidopsis thaliana Ubiquitin-10 Promoter ( Callis, et al., 1990, J. Biol. Chem.
  • the binary was constructed by cloning a DNA fragment containing the 14025 v3 Zinc Finger / VP16 fusion into pDAB3916 via NcoI- SacI restriction sites.
  • the resulting construct which was labeled as pDAB8221 contained the AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: 14025 v3 Zinc Finger / VP16 Fusion :: Atu ORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • pDAB8221 was cloned into the pDAB7309 binary via an L-R Gateway® Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAB4695 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • pDAB4696 is a binary plasmid which contains the 14033 v3 / VP 16 and pat gene expression cassettes. This construct includes the following gene elements; RB7 MAR v3 :: AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: 14033 v3 Zinc Finger / VP16 Fusion :: Atu ORF23 3'UTR v1 :: CsVMV Promoter v2 :: pat v5 :: AtuORF 1 3'UTR v4.
  • the binary was constructed by cloning a DNA fragment containing the 14033 v3 Zinc Finger / VP16 fusion into pDAB3916 via NcoI - SacI restriction sites.
  • pDAB8222 contained the AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: 14033 v3 Zinc Finger / VP16 Fusion :: Atu ORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • pDAB8222 was cloned into the pDAB7309 binary via an L-R Gateway® Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAB4696 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • pDAB4697 is a binary plasmid which contains the 14035 v3 / VP 16 and pat gene expression cassettes. This construct includes the following gene elements; RB7 MAR v3 :: AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: 14035 v3 Zinc Finger / VP16 Fusion :: Atu ORF23 3'UTR v1 :: CsVMV Promoter v2 :: pat v5 :: AtuORF 1 3'UTR v4. The binary was constructed by cloning a DNA fragment containing the 14035 v3 Zinc Finger / VP16 fusion into pDAB3916 via NcoI- SacI restriction sites.
  • pDAB8223 contained the AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: 14035 v3 Zinc Finger / VP16 Fusion :: Atu ORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • pDAB8223 was cloned into the pDAB7309 binary via an L-R Gateway® Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAB4697 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • pDAB4698 is a binary plasmid which contains the 14047 v3 / VP 16 and pat gene expression cassettes. This construct includes the following gene elements; RB7 MAR v3 :: AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: 14047 v3 Zinc Finger / VP16 Fusion :: Atu ORF23 3'UTR v1 :: CsVMV Promoter v2 :: pat v5 :: AtuORF 1 3'UTR v4.
  • the binary was constructed by cloning a DNA fragment containing the 14047 v3 Zinc Finger / VP16 fusion into pDAB3916 via NcoI- SacI restriction sites.
  • pDAB8224 contained the AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: 14047 v3 Zinc Finger / VP16 Fusion :: Atu ORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • pDAB8224 was cloned into the pDAB7309 binary via an L-R Gateway® Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAB4698 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • Agrobacterium cells were prepared for electroporation using the protocol described in Weigel D., Glazebrook J. Arabidopsis: A Laboratory Manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2002: pg123-124 . Minor modifications were made to the protocol that allowed for optimal growth of Agrobacterium (i.e. YEP media was substituted for LB). Independently, 1.5-3 ⁇ g of plasmid DNA for each construct was added to 50 ⁇ l of C58 :: Z707s Agrobacterium tumefaciens cells and gently mixed. The mixture was transferred to cold 0.2 cm GENE PULSER® cuvettes (BioRad Hercules, CA) and placed on ice.
  • the cuvettes were then placed in a cold GENE PULSER® rack (BioRad, Hercules, CA) and electroporated at the following conditions: capacitance output 25 ⁇ Farad, capacitance extender 960 ⁇ Farad, resistance 200 ohms, and voltage 2.5 kVolts.
  • capacitance output 25 ⁇ Farad capacitance extender 960 ⁇ Farad
  • resistance 200 ohms resistance 200 ohms
  • voltage 2.5 kVolts Immediately after electroporation, 950 ⁇ l of SOC medium (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) was added and the mixture was transferred to a Falcon 2059 tube (Becton Dickinson and Co., Franklin Lakes, NJ) or equivalent. The transformed cells were then incubated at 28°C for 1 hour.
  • YEP medium plates (10 gm yeast extract, 10 gm peptone, 5 gm NaCl, 10 gm sucrose, and 15 gm agar in 1 Liter of water) containing antibiotics as appropriate.
  • the plates were grown inverted at 28°C for approximately 36-48 hours. Single colonies were picked and propagated in 50 ml of liquid YEP (10 gm yeast extract, 10 gm peptone, 5 gm NaCl, and 10 gm sucrose in 1 Liter of water), containing antibiotics as appropriate, at 28°C for approximately 36 hours.
  • the Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain was confirmed via a ketolactose test. Putatively transformed colonies were streaked out on lactose agar and incubated at 28°C for 48 hours. The plates were then flooded with Benedict's Solution. The plates were monitored; streaked isolates which turned the Benedict's Solution from blue to yellow were confirmed as Agrobacterium ( Bouzar, H., Jones, J., Bishop, A. "Simple Cultural Tests for Identification of Agrobacterium Biovars.” Methods in Molecular Biology, Volume 44. Humana Press, 1995: 9-13 ).
  • plasmid DNA was prepared from the bacterial cultures. DNA integrity was evaluated by restriction digest. Clones with the expected banding patterns were identified and glycerol stocks were prepared by adding 500 ⁇ l of bacterial culture to 500 ⁇ l of sterile glycerol (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO) and inverting to mix. Glycerol stocks were frozen on dry ice and stored at -80°C.
  • Hypocotyl segments were placed on 'callus induction medium' consisting of MS medium containing 30 g/L sucrose, 1 mg/L kinetin and 1 mg/L 2,4-D solidified with 7g/L TC Agar including a sterile filter paper. The plates were placed into a clear STERILITE® tub and maintained under the same growth regime for 3 days, as a pre-treatment.
  • the segments were then transferred into a 100 x 25 sterile petri plate containing 20 mL of 'liquid culture medium' consisting of Linsmaier and Skoog basal medium (1965) containing 30 g/L glucose, 1 ⁇ 2 strength Gamborg vitamins (1968), 215.2 mg/l kinetin and 221.04 mg/12,4-D for a 1 hour pretreatment.
  • 'liquid culture medium' consisting of Linsmaier and Skoog basal medium (1965) containing 30 g/L glucose, 1 ⁇ 2 strength Gamborg vitamins (1968), 215.2 mg/l kinetin and 221.04 mg/12,4-D for a 1 hour pretreatment.
  • the 'liquid culture medium' was removed from the hypocotyl segments and 40mL of Agrobacterium suspension (containing either pDAB4695, pDAB4696, pDAB4697 or pDAB4698 in Z707s) at a 50 Klett was vortexed briefly and poured into the 100 x 25mm petri dish containing hypocotyl segments for a 30 minute treatment. After 30 minutes, all of the Agrobacterium suspension was removed using a double stacked pipette. The treated hypocotyls were placed back onto the 'callus induction medium' plus filter papers, returned to the STERILITE® tub, covered with a dark lid and returned to the culture room under the same growth regime as above, for a 3 day cocultivation period.
  • hypocotyls were placed directly onto 'callus induction medium' containing 1mg/L HERBIACE®, placed back into the tub with a clear lid and returned to the culture room, maintaining the same growth regime as above.
  • the hypocotyls were transferred directly to 'callus induction medium' with selection at 3 mg/L HERBIACE® for 2 weeks for further callus development and transferred to 'callus induction medium' with selection at 5mg/L HERBIACE for 2-8 weeks for additional callus development. Once a sufficient amount of callus was available it was submitted for molecular analysis.
  • Canola callus tissue was placed onto 'shoot regeneration medium' consisting of MS medium containing 30 g/L sucrose, 3 mg/L benzyaminopurine, 0.5 g/L MES [2-(N-morpholion) ethane sulfonic acid], 5 mg/L silver nitrate, 1mg/L zeatin, 250 mg/L carbenicillin, 300 mg/L timentin and 7 g/L TC Agar with selection at 5 mg/L HERBIACE®, plates were wrapped with 3M tape and place under growth regime set at 23° C, and a photoperiod of 16 hrs light/8 hrs dark.
  • MS medium consisting of MS medium containing 30 g/L sucrose, 3 mg/L benzyaminopurine, 0.5 g/L MES [2-(N-morpholion) ethane sulfonic acid], 5 mg/L silver nitrate, 1mg/L zeatin, 250 mg/L carbenicillin
  • the tissues were then moved to 'shoot elongation medium' consisting of MS medium containing 0.5 g/L MES, 300 mg/L timentin, 20 g/L sucrose and 7 g/L TC Agar with selection at 5 mg/L HERBIACE®. Plantlets were transferred to 'rooting medium' consisting of 1 ⁇ 2 MS medium containing 10 g/L sucrose, 0.5 mg/L indolebutyric acid, 300 mg/L timentin and 8 g/L TC Agar with selection at 5 mg/L HERBIACE®.
  • Agrobacterium from a glycerol stock was streaked, four days prior to treatment, onto 'semi solid bacterial growth medium' consisting of 10 g/L Peptone, 10 g/L Yeast Extract, 5 g/L NaCl, 10 g/L Sucrose plus 100 mg/L spectinomycin and 250 mg/L streptomycin and solidified with 15 g/L Bacto Agar and grown for two days in an incubator (Fisher Scientific Isotemp Incubator) at 28°C.
  • 'semi solid bacterial growth medium' consisting of 10 g/L Peptone, 10 g/L Yeast Extract, 5 g/L NaCl, 10 g/L Sucrose plus 100 mg/L spectinomycin and 250 mg/L streptomycin and solidified with 15 g/L Bacto Agar and grown for two days in an incubator (Fisher Scientific Isotemp Incubator) at 28°C.
  • a small loop of Agrobacterium was placed into a 500mL sterile disposable baffled flask containing 150mL 'liquid bacterial growth medium' (same as above minus solidifying agent), 250mg/L of streptomycin and 100mg/L of spectinomycin, grown for 16 hours overnight at 28° C in the dark on an enclosed shaker (New Brunswick Scientific Innova 4330 refrigerated incubator shaker) at 200 rpm. After 16 hours the Agrobacterium culture was removed from the shaker and aliquotted into 50mL centrifuge tubes (one containing 35mL for preparation and two containing 50mL for revalidation).
  • centrifuge tubes are placed into a centrifuge (Beckman Model J2-21 centrifuge) and centrifuged at 6,000 rpm for 15 minutes and subsequently re-suspended in the 'liquid culture medium' to a final density of Klett 50 with a red filter.
  • Putatively transformed B. napus callus samples were analyzed for alterations in mRNA expressions for ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II endogenous gene, tubulin endogenous gene and ZFP TF transgene.
  • the tubulin mRNA levels were used as an internal control to normalize the expression of ZFP TF and ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II mRNAs.
  • the ZFP TF mRNA expression data was used to confirm the presence of at least one functional ZFP TF transgene in transformed calli.
  • RNA was prepared from the fresh callus tissue using QIAGEN RNEASY 96 Kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). The RNA was treated with RNase-free DNase according to the kit's instructions to remove any genomic DNA contaminants. First strand synthesis was set up according to the Superscript® III Reverse Transcriptase Enzyme (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) manufacturer's instructions and primed using random hexamers. The synthesized cDNA strands were diluted in water at ratios of 1:10 and 1:50 (this provides sufficient template to PCR amplify multiple targets). Each aliquot was saved at -20°C indefinitely.
  • qRT-PCR reaction mixes were set up for amplification of the ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II cDNA as follows: 7.5 ⁇ L of 2X LC480 Probes Master Buffer (Roche Diagnostic, Indianapolis, IN), 0.3 ⁇ L gene specific forward primer (SEQ ID NO: 28: 5'- TTGACTCGAGCTGCTACTGC -3'; nucleotide positions 544 - 563 for SEQ ID NO: 3 in Figure 8 alignment) from 10 ⁇ M stock, 0.3 ⁇ L gene specific reverse primer (SEQ ID NO: 29: 5'- TTTCCATATCCATCGCAACA -3'; nucleotide positions 588 - 607 for SEQ ID NO: 3 in Figure 8 alignment) from 10 ⁇ M stock, 0.15 ⁇ L UPL probe #25 from LIGHTCYCLER® 480 Probes Master, (Roche Diagnostic, Indianapolis, IN), 1.5 ⁇ L of 10% (w/v) polyvinyl pyrrolidone-40 (PVP-40), and
  • the UPL probe (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, USA) is a locked nucleic acid and therefore has a higher Tm than otherwise calculated. All components were put back in the freezer prior to handling standards and unknowns.
  • a 384-well microplate was demarcated and labeled, 13.5 ⁇ L of master mix was added per well. A sealing foil was gently attached to the microplate. The plate was centrifuged for 1 minute at 3,000 rpm in a Qiagen microplate centrifuge. 1.5 ⁇ L of thawed, diluted synthesized cDNA strands were added.
  • plasmid DNA copy number standards were added to separate wells in a dilution series from lowest to highest concentrations, these standards were compared to the ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II cDNA (synthesized from total mRNA) to quantitate the copy number.
  • ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II DNA copy number standard series were made by cloning the target amplicon into a pCR2.1 plasmid (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) and making a dilution series for quantifying the copy number.
  • a foil seal was firmly affixed to the plate and centrifuged as previously described.
  • a PCR program was performed as follows: i.
  • tubulin gene a native gene of Brassica napus (GenBank: AF258790 and GenBank: DU106489), was used as a reference standard to accurately normalize mRNA expression signal across genes in qRT-PCR assays.
  • cDNA synthesized for ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II qRT-PCR assay (described in example 4.1) was also used in tubulin qRT-PCR assay as described below.
  • a qRT-PCR was set up with 0.3 ⁇ L of a gene specific forward primer (SEQ ID NO: 31: 5'- ACAGCGATTGCCTACAAGG -3') (10 ⁇ M stock) and 0.3 ⁇ L of a gene specific reverse primer (SEQ ID NO: 32: 5'-AGATGGTTAAGATCACCAAAGG -3') (10 ⁇ M stock), 1.5 ⁇ L of 10% (w/v) PVP-40, 3.9 ⁇ L water and 7.5 ⁇ L 2X LIGHTCYCLER® 480 SYBR Green I Master Mix (Roche, Indianapolis, IN) to detect and quantify DNA.
  • a 384-well microplate was demarcated and labeled, 13.5 ⁇ L of master mix was added per well.
  • a sealing foil was gently attached to the microplate.
  • the plate was centrifuged for 1 minute at 3,000 rpm in a Qiagen microplate centrifuge.
  • the sealing foil was removed and 1.5 ⁇ L of thawed, diluted synthesized cDNA strands were added. Additionally, 1.5 ⁇ L of plasmid DNA copy number standards were added to separate wells in a dilution series from lowest to highest concentrations, these standards were compared to the tubulin cDNA (synthesized from total mRNA) to quantitate the copy number.
  • Tubulin DNA copy number standard series were made by cloning the target amplicon into a pCR2.1 plasmid (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) and making a dilution series for quantifying the copy number.
  • a foil seal was firmly affixed to the plate and centrifuged as previously described.
  • a PCR program was run as follows: i. Activate 95°C for 10 minutes; ii. Denature 95°C for 10 sec @ 4.8°C/sec; iii. Anneal/Extend 55.5°C for 20 sec @ 2.5°C/sec; iv. Acquire 72°C for 20 sec @ 4.8°C/sec; steps ii - iv were repeated 39 more times; vi.
  • DNA was amplified in Real-time PCR instrumentation LC480 or equivalent. A 307 base pair amplicon was amplified in this reaction. This reverse primer spans a 78 bp intron based upon the GenBank sequence. Therefore, amplicons amplified from the genomic DNA would not be favored and genomic DNA contaminants would be of higher molecular weight and can easily be differentiated from that of cDNA by running amplicons on an agarose gel.
  • ZFP TF mRNA was quantitated from cDNA samples that were originally synthesized for ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II mRNA (described above in Example 4.1).
  • a TaqMan PCR assay was designed from the ZFP cassette by anchoring primers to the opaque-2 NLS sequence at the 5' and VP16 sequence at the 3'.
  • the PCR assay was set up using: 0.5 ⁇ L forward primer "OP2_NLS_F1" (SEQ ID NO: 33: 5'- AAGGAAGAGGAAGGAGTCTAACAG -3') from 10 ⁇ M stock, 0.5 ⁇ L reverse primer "VP16_R1" (SEQ ID 34: 5'- CTTCTGCTCTCCACCGTA -3') from 10 ⁇ M stock, 0.25 ⁇ L probe "VP16_MGB_185” (SEQ ID NO: 45: 5'-TTGATGGTGAAGATGT -3') from 5 ⁇ M stock, 1.5 ⁇ L of 10% (w/v) PVP-40, 1.5 ⁇ L 10x Hot Start PCR buffer, 1.0 ⁇ L 25mM MgCl 2 , 1.2 ⁇ L dNTP (2.5mM each), 0.15 ⁇ L Hot Start Taq Polymerase (Qiagen, Valencia, CA), and 6.9 ⁇ L water, The cocktail was amplified using LIGHTCYCLER® 480 (Roc
  • a 384-well microplate was demarcated and labeled, 13.5 ⁇ L of master mix was added per well.
  • a sealing foil was gently attached to the microplate. The plate was centrifuged for 1 minute at 3,000 rpm in a Qiagen microplate centrifuge. The sealing foil was removed and 1.5 ⁇ L of thawed, diluted synthesized cDNA strands were added. A foil seal was firmly affixed to the plate and centrifuged as previously described.
  • a PCR program was run as follows: i. Activate 95°C for 15 minutes; ii. Denature 95°C for 20 sec @ 4.8°C/sec; iii. Anneal/Extend 60°C for 20 sec @ 2.5°C/sec; iv.
  • ZFP TF mRNA expression was measured in 8-week-old transgenic callus samples putatively transformed with ZFP TFs and growing on HERBIACE® selection medium ( see Example 3).
  • ZFP TF quantitative mRNA expression was detected in samples transformed with only ZFP TF containing constructs but not in samples containing the control construct. This data indicated that the assay was specific to ZFP TF expression and that control calli did contain ZFP TF transgene.
  • Ratios of ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II and tubulin mRNA expression were calculated, based on qRT-PCR results, to discern the expression differences between callus samples.
  • Table 4 KASII mRNA expression in B.
  • T0 canola plants containing pDAB4695 transgene construct were grown up to the 6-leaf plant stage and analyzed for mRNA expressions of the ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II endogenous gene, tubulin endogenous gene, and ZFP TF transgene.
  • the transgenic plants were compared to control samples that had been transformed with a binary construct containing a pat gene expression cassette (AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: pat v3 :: Atu ORF1 3'UTR v3).
  • ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II mRNA varied among independent transgenic T0 plants. Greater than 3-fold mRNA up-regulation was observed among the 16 events analyzed ( Figure 3 ). All plants were positive for ZFP TF expression. In addition, 27 control plants were used to calculate a ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II mRNA expression baseline. The mean expression of the ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II mRNA from the baseline control was compared to the expression of ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II mRNA from individual ZFP TF plant events to calculate the fold-increase of expression ( Figure 3 ). These plants were grown to maturity to obtain T1 seed. Prior to flowering, all plants were individually covered with selfing bags to facilitate self pollination of flowers within a plant. T1 seed of these plants were collected approximately 4 months following their transfer to the greenhouse.
  • Events 3, 6 and 12.2 (hereafter referred to as event 12), representing different ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II mRNA expression ranges, were selected for further study.
  • the supernatant was transferred to a 96 well plate with glass inserts (MicroLiter, Suwanee, GA). 40 ⁇ L of 1% sodium methoxide was added to the sample. The sodium methoxide was diluted from a stock 30% solution with methanol (Fluka/Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, MO). The plates were capped with a Teflon lined mat and allowed to incubate at room temp for 4 hours before GC analysis.
  • Samples were analyzed for fatty acid contents on an Agilent 6890 GC-FID (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA) equipped with a J&W Scientific DB-23 column, 15 meter x 0.25 mm ID column and 0.25 ⁇ m film thickness, (J&W Scientific, Folsom, CA).
  • the initial oven temperature was 200°C and this temperature was maintained for the duration of the run.
  • the inlet was set to split ratio of 1:100 and a temperature of 280°C.
  • a ramped flow rate of 0.8 mL/min helium was maintained for the initial two minutes. The flow was then increased at a rate of 1.0 mL/min to 2.5 mL/min and held for 1.5 minutes.
  • the detector was set to 300°C with a constant carrier gas make up and column flow of 30 mL/min, fuel hydrogen flow of 30 mL/min, and oxidizer flow of 400 mL/min. An injection volume of 2 ⁇ L was used for all samples.
  • the DNA samples were assayed for the presence of at minimum, one full-length copy of the ZFP TF transgene in a PCR assay containing the following reagents: 5 ⁇ L 10X EX Taq buffer (Takara Bio Inc., Otsu, Siga, Japan), 5 ⁇ L 10% polyvinyl pyrrolidone-40, 1.0 ⁇ L ubi10 forward primer (SEQ ID NO: 35: 5'-GGTCAACGGATCAGGATATTCTTG -3') from 10 ⁇ M stock, 1.0 ⁇ L AtuORF23 reverse primer (SEQ ID NO: 36: 5'- CCATGTTGGCAAAGGCAACC -3'), 10 ⁇ M stock, 4 uL of dNTPs (2.5 mM each), 0.2 ⁇ L TaKaRa EX TaqTM Hot Start, 31.8 ⁇ L water and 2 ⁇ L DNA at a concentration of 10 ng/ ⁇ L.
  • 5 ⁇ L 10X EX Taq buffer (
  • PCR cycling conditions were as follows: 94°C for 2 min, 10 cycles of touch-down PCR with 98°C for 10 sec, 65°C for 20 sec with decreasing temperature of 0.5°C at every cycle to 60°C followed by 72°C for 3:00 min. This was followed by 35 cycles of 98°C for 10 sec, 60°C for 20 sec and 72°C for 3:00 min and a final extension of 72°C for 10 min. 5 ⁇ l of each reaction was run on a 1% agarose gel to detect for the presence of the expected size ZFP TF band of 2662 bp.
  • the reaction mix for pat TaqMan RT-PCR assay was comprised of the following: 3 ⁇ L Roche LIGHTCYCLER® Cycler 480 II Probes 2X master mix, 0.6 ⁇ L 10% PVP-40, 0.2 ⁇ L each of pat forward primer (SEQ ID NO: 37: 5'-ACAAGAGTGGATTGATGATCTAGAGAGGT -3') from10 ⁇ M stock, 0.2 ⁇ L PAT reverse primer (SEQ ID NO: 38: 5'- CTTTGATGCCTATGTGACACGTAAACAGT -3') from 10 ⁇ M stock, 0.2 ⁇ L probe (SEQ ID NO: 39: 5'- 6FAM-CCAGCGTAAGCAATACCAGCCACAACACC-quencher -3') from 5 ⁇ M stock, and it was multiplexed with the following reagents for internal reference standard of HMG (GenBank: AF127919), as follows: 0.2 ⁇ L each of HMG forward primer (SEQ ID NO: 40: 5'- CCTCTCT
  • PCR cycling conditions were: 1 cycle of 95°C for 5 min, 40 cycles of 95°C for 10 sec, 60°C for 40 sec and 72°C for 1sec. All samples were amplified in triplicate in 384-well plates along with 1-4 copy transgenic genomic DNA standards in a Roche LIGHTCYCLER® 480 PCR machine.
  • events 3 6 and 12 contained approximately 2, 1, and 2 insertions respectively of the ZFP TF transgene in the B. napus genome (Table 6, Column 3). This data matched with the pat gene segregation data in all three events.
  • the PCR reaction was set up as follows: The reaction conditions were as follows: 7.5 ⁇ L of 2X LC480 Probes Master Buffer (Roche Diagnostic, Indianapolis, IN), 0.3 ⁇ L gene specific forward Primer #1 (SEQ ID NO: 43: 5'- TCGATCTTGATATGTTGGGAGA -3') (10 ⁇ M stock), 0.3 ⁇ L gene specific reverse Primer #2 (SEQ ID NO: 44: 5'- AGGTGCAGAATCATGTGGTG - 3') (10 ⁇ M stock), 0.15 ⁇ L UPL probe #85, 1.5 ⁇ L of 10% (w/v) PVP-40, and 3.9 ⁇ L water.
  • a 384-well micro-plate was demarcated and 13.5 ⁇ L of the mix described above was added per well.
  • a sealing foil was attached to the plate, and the plate was centrifuged for 1 minute at 3000 rpm. The film was removed and 1.5 ⁇ L of the thawed, diluted first strands were added per well. In addition, cDNA standards were added to separate control wells. The foil seal was sealed upon the plate and the centrifugation step was repeated.
  • a PCR program was run with the following conditions; i. activate 95°C for 5 minutes, ii. denature 95°C for 10 sec (@ 4.8°C/sec), iii. anneal/extend 60°C for 25 sec (@ 2.5°C/sec), iv. acquire 72°C for 1 sec (@ 4.8°C/sec), v. repeat steps ii - iv 39-49 more times, vi. cool to 38°C for 5 sec.
  • ZFP TF mRNA expression was lowest in event 6 and highest in event 3 of the ZFP TF positive samples ( Figure 4 ).
  • the null plants did not express ZFP TF mRNA indicating that the ZFP TF assay was specific to ZFP TF transgene presence.
  • the up-regulation of ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II mRNA levels was relative to the increase in ZFP TF mRNA expression levels within each event ( Figure 4 ), i.e. lowest in event 6 and highest in event 3.
  • a second set of T1 leaf samples were collected for fatty acid analysis concurrent to the collection of mRNA analysis samples described in Example 6.3. However, only a subset of the samples were analyzed for fatty acids for only those plants that were advanced to maturity as shown in Table 6, column 4.
  • Fatty a cid m ethyl e ster (FAME) analysis of leaf material was completed as follows. Leaf material of 10-100 mg was collected on ice and then freeze dried prior to a transmethylation reaction with 0.25M sodium methoxide in anhydrous methanol at 40°C for 20 minutes. After the transmethylation reaction the fatty acids were extracted three times with a heptane solution containing heptadecanoin as a surrogate standard.
  • the isolated hexane fractions were dried down and resuspended in a known volume of heptane.
  • the resulting fatty acids methyl ester (FAME) was analyzed via GC-FID using a BPX 70 capillary column from SGE (15m x 0.25mm x 0.25 ⁇ m). Each FAME was identified by their retention time and quantified by the injection of a rapeseed oil reference mix from Matreya LLC as the calibration standard. The completeness of the reaction was verified by checking the presence of endogenous FAMES in a fourth extraction/derivation.
  • Table 7 T1 leaf fatty acid profile Sample name Plants Analyzed C16:0 Total C18 Mean Std Dev Mean Std Dev 12null 6 10.98 0.31 69.93 0.91 12ZFP 8 10.29 0.39 70.94 1.02 3null 7 10.79 0.56 69.84 1.18 3ZFP 12 10.34 0.29 71.25 0.74 6null 5 11.94 0.47 70.36 1.91 6ZFP 5 10.44 0.62 72.16 2.88
  • T2 fatty acid analysis was performed on a pool of 24 seeds per plant as described for T1 seed analysis in Example 6.1.
  • the results showed a decrease in C16:0 content in ZFP TF positive plants of all three events by pair-wise comparison with their corresponding sibling null plants (Tables 8A and 8B).
  • This decrease in C16:0 contents was 12.6%, 11.2% and 22.3% for events 12, 3 and 6, respectively.
  • a consistent decrease was also observed in C16:1 content.
  • C18:0 + C18:1 + C18:2 + C18:3 content was observed in ZFP TF positive plants in a pair-wise comparison with the corresponding sibling null plants.
  • Tables 8A and 8B show comparison of T2 fatty acid profile of three B. napus transgenic events of pDAB4695 ZFP TF positive and corresponding sibling null plants. This data was obtained with FAME analysis and is described in Section 6.1. C12:0 to C24:1 fatty acids were analyzed and major ones are shown in these tables. All numbers were represented as a percentage of total fatty acids present in B . napus seeds.
  • Table 9 displays total fatty acid profiles based on the individual fatty acids shown in Tables 8A and 8B.
  • ZFP TF-mediated transcriptional up-regulation of the ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II gene in T0 and T1 plants and the concomitant decrease in total C16 and increase in total C18 fatty acid contents in T2 seed was exemplified.
  • Plastids are the major site for de novo fatty acid biosynthesis in higher plants ( Ohlrogge et al., 1979, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 76:1194-8 ; Thelen and Ohlrogge, 2002, Metabolic Engineering 4:12-21 ).
  • Fatty acids not utilized in the plastids are exported to cytoplasm through the specific activity of acyl-ACP thioesterases (FATs) by hydrolyzing acyl-acyl carrier proteins (acyl-ACP) to release free fatty acids.
  • FATs acyl-ACP thioesterases
  • acyl-ACP acyl-acyl carrier proteins
  • the FATA class prefers 18:1-ACP in vitro while the FATB class prefers saturated acyl-ACP substrates, such as 16:0-ACP and 18:0-ACP, but also shows other heterogeneous substrate specificity ( Doermann et al, 1995, Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 316:612-618 ; Voelker et al., 1997, Plant Physiology 114: 669-677 ; Salas and Ohlrogge, 2002, Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 403:25-34 ). Similar to FATA, FATB is also regarded to be present in all plant tissues, but predominantly expresses in developing seeds ( Jha et al., 2006, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 44:645-655 ).
  • the Arabidopsis nuclear genome encodes for two FatA genes and a single FatB gene. Inactivation of the FatB activity can dramatically decrease saturated fatty acid content in glycerolipids. For example, in a FatB mutant created by the insertion of a T-DNA, palmitate (16:0) and stearate (18:0) content were reduced by 42 - 56% and 30 - 50% respectively depending on the tissue ( Bon Rush et al., The Plant Cell, 2003 15:1020-1033 ). The plant growth rate was greatly impacted in this mutant resulting in 50% less fresh weight at 4 weeks compared to wild-type. This finding supports the view that FatB serves as a major factor governing the fate of the saturated fatty acids in plants.
  • the major oilseed crop Brassica napus is an amphidiploid species closely related to the model species Arabidopsis, but has a genome size of approximately eight times larger than that of Arabidopsis.
  • six FatB genes have been reported in this species ( WO 2009/007091 ) compared to one in Arabidopsis. This complexity makes it difficult to understand the function of individual FatB genes for their manipulation. Conversely, the presence of a higher number of genes makes it easier to manipulate the expression of multiple gene toward the desired fatty acid goal instead of knocking one out completely.
  • Zinc finger transcription factors have been known to bind to essentially any DNA sequence and modulate gene function of the targeted genes ( Van Eenennaam et al., Metab. Eng.
  • Examples 8-15 demonstrate transcriptional up-regulation of FatB genes in Brassica napus L. resulting in fatty acid profile changes in seeds.
  • Example 8 Target Sequence Identification for FatB genes in Brassica napus L.
  • a modified Genome Walking protocol was employed to discover and characterize the promoter sequences for the FatB genes of Brassica napus variety Nex710. These nucleotide sequences were isolated and identified for the design and production of ZFP TFs, which can be used to modify gene expression of the FatB gene.
  • Nine genome walking libraries were constructed using the Clontech Genome Walking Kit (Palo Alto, CA). These libraries were used to obtain ⁇ 1 kb of sequence upstream of the transcription start site for the FatB genes.
  • a forward pair of nested FatB gene-specific primers were designed and synthesized based on available FatB EST sequences from public databases.
  • a reverse pair of nested primers were designed and synthesized to hybridize to the adapter sequences.
  • PCR fragments were amplified from the nine libraries.
  • the resulting PCR fragments were cloned into TOPO vectors (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and sequenced to identify the FatB promoter sequences.
  • Two different FatB genes, FatB4 and FatB5 were identified based on this approach. It was observed that although the coding sequences of these FatB genes were highly conserved, the sequences diverged in the 5' UTR and promoter regions.
  • FatB expression and quantitation of the FatB4 and FatB5 genes via quantitative RT-PCR analysis in developing B. napus seed suggested that the genes were highly expressed in B. napus seed.
  • Total RNA was isolated, quantified, and the transcription initiation sites were mapped as described above in Example 1. The promoter sequences of these two genes were utilized to design ZFP TFs for transcriptional expression modification.
  • Zinc finger proteins were designed against various targets sites in the FatB gene.
  • the target sites and recognition helices for representative ZFP designs are shown below in Tables 10A and 10B.
  • Table 10A Target binding sites for FatB ZFP TFs ZFP FatB4 Target site (5' to 3') FatB 5 Target Site (5' to 3') FatB specificity 13685* No binding site FatB4 13714 No binding site FatB5 13722 FatB4 and FatB5 13743** FatB4 and FatB5
  • Table 10B ZFP recognition helix regions ZFP 1*** 2 3 4 5 6 13685 RSDNLSA (SEQ ID NO:75) QSAHRKT (SEQ ID NO76) RSDDLSK (SEQ ID NO:21) QSSHRKT (SEQ ID NO:77) RSDHLSV (SEQ ID NO:78) QNAHRIE (SEQ ID NO:79) 13714 RSDNLSA (SEQ ID NO:75) QSAHRKT (SEQ ID NO:76) RSDDLSK (
  • the ZFP TF binary plasmids designed and constructed are listed in Table 11 below. Expression of the ZFP TF genes was driven by a relatively strong constitutive promoter, such as a promoter derived from the Cassava Vein Mosaic Virus (CsVMV) promoter. Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation was conducted as described in Example 3.2 to stably incorporate ZFP TFs into the B . napus genome. Table 11: Construct description of ZFP TFs targeted to B. napus FatB genes S.N. ZFP Construct No.
  • CsVMV Cassava Vein Mosaic Virus
  • pDAB4689 is a binary plasmid which contains the opaque-2 (Op-2) Nuclear Localization Sequence or NLS /13685/ VP 16 and pat gene expression cassettes.
  • This construct includes the following gene elements; RB7 MAR v3 (Matrix Attachment Region ( Thompson et al., 1997, WO9727207 )) :: CsVMV Promoter v2 (Cassava Vein Mosaic Virus Promoter ( Verdaguer et al., 1996, Plant Molecular Biology 31: 1129-1139 )) :: opaque-2 NLS ( Van Eenennaam et al., 2004, Metabolic Engineering 6:101-108 ; Holmes-Davis et al., 2005, Plant Molecular Biology 57:411-423 )/13685 Zinc Finger/VP16 ( Jamieson et al., Biochem.
  • pDAB8215 contained the CsVMV Promoter v2 :: opaque-2 NLS/13685 Zinc FingerNP16 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • pDAB8215 was cloned into the pDAB4668 binary via an L-R Gateway Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAB4689 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • pDAB4690 is a binary plasmid which contains the opaque-2 NLS/13714NP 16 and pat gene expression cassettes.
  • This construct includes the following gene elements; RB7 MAR v3 :: CsVMV Promoter v2 :: opaque-2 NLS/13714 Zinc Finger/VP16 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 :: AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: pat v5 :: AtuORF 1 3'UTR v4.
  • the binary was constructed by cloning a DNA fragment containing the opaque-2 NLS/13714 Zinc Finger/VP16 fusion into pDAB3912 via NcoI - SacI restriction sites.
  • pDAB8216 contained the CsVMV Promoter v2 :: opaque-2 NLS/13714 Zinc Finger/VP16 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • pDAB8216 was cloned into the pDAB4668 binary via an L-R Gateway Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAB4690 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • pDAB4691 is a binary plasmid which contains the opaque-2 NLS/13722NP 16 and pat gene expression cassettes. This construct includes the following gene elements; RB7 MAR v3 :: CsVMV Promoter v2 :: opaque-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/VP16 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 :: AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: pat v5 (Phosphinothricin Acetyl Transferase :: AtuORF 1 3'UTR v4.
  • the binary was constructed by cloning a DNA fragment containing the opaque-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/VP16 fusion into pDAB3912 via NcoI - SacI restriction sites.
  • the resulting construct which was labeled as pDAB8217 contained the CsVMV Promoter v2 :: opaque-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/VP16 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • pDAB8217 was cloned into the pDAB4668 binary via an L-R Gateway Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAB4691 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • pDAB4692 is a binary plasmid which contains the opaque-2 NLS/13743/VP 16 and pat gene expression cassettes. This construct includes the following gene elements; RB7 MAR v3 (Matrix Attachment Region :: CsVMV Promoter v2 :: opaque-2 NLS/13743 Zinc Finger/VP16 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 :: AtUbi10 Promoter v2 ( Arabidopsis thaliana Ubiquitin-10 Promoter :: pat v5 :: AtuORF 1 3'UTR v4.
  • the binary was constructed by cloning a DNA fragment containing the opaque-2 NLS/13743 Zinc Finger/VP16 fusion into pDAB3912 via NcoI - SacI restriction sites.
  • the resulting construct which was labeled as pDAB8218 contained the CsVMV Promoter v2 :: opaque-2 NLS/13743 Zinc Finger/VP16 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • pDAB8218 was cloned into the pDAB4668 binary via an L-R Gateway Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAB4692 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • Transgenic B. napus callus lines were produced by the transformation of four ZFP TF constructs, pDAB4689 - pDAB4692, and a control construct, pDAB8210, via Agrobacterium - mediated plant transformation as described in Example 3.2.
  • the control construct, pDAB8210 was comprised of a pat gene expression cassette (AtUbi10 Promoter / pat / AtuORF 1 3' UTR) and a non-target ZFN cassette (CsVMV Promoter / ZFN / AtuORF23 3' UTR).
  • Total RNA was extracted and cDNA synthesized from all lines as described in Example 4.1.
  • the only modification to the previously-described protocol was the use of Oligo dT primers for priming the cDNA reactions instead of random hexamers and the corresponding modification of the cDNA reaction, per manufacturer's specifications.
  • a PCR mix was set up as follows for cDNA amplification of FatB4 : 1.5 ⁇ L 10X Hot Start PCR Buffer (Qiagen, Valencia, USA), 1.2 ⁇ L of 10 mM dNTPs, 1 ⁇ L 25 mM MgCl 2 , 0.15 ⁇ L Qiagen Hot Start Taq (5U/ ⁇ L), 0.5 ⁇ L zz143 FW primer of 10 ⁇ M stock (SEQ ID NO: 53: CTTTGAACGCTTATCTTCCTC) (10 ⁇ M stock), 0.5 ⁇ L FATB5_R4 REV primer of 10 ⁇ M stock (SEQ ID NO: 54: TTCCACAACATCTCCCCAAG), 0.25 ⁇ L TaqMan MGB probe (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, California) FatB4_MGB_Probe_4 of 5 ⁇ M stock (SEQ ID NO: 55: FAM-CTCAGGCTCCACCC), 1.5 ⁇ L of 10% (w/v) PVP-40), and H 2 O to 13.5
  • the appropriate quadrant(s) of a 384-well micro-plate were demarcated and filled with 13.5 ⁇ L of master mix per well.
  • a sealing foil was then attached to the plate gently.
  • the plate was centrifuged for 1 minute at 3,000 rpm in a Qiagen micro-plate centrifuge.
  • 1.5 ⁇ L thawed, diluted first strand cDNAs were added to appropriate wells, followed by the addition of 1.5 ⁇ L plasmid cDNA standards from lowest to highest concentration of DNA into control wells.
  • a sealing foil was firmly affixed to the plate and centrifuged.
  • the PCR program was run in a LIGHTCYCLER ® 480 Real-Time PCR System (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN, USA), using the following program: 1) activate 95°C for 15 minutes; 2) denature 95°C for 20-30 sec (@ 4.8°C/sec); 3) anneal 60°C for 20-30 sec (@ 2.5°C/sec); 4) acquire 72°C for 45-60 sec (@ 4.8°C/sec); repeat step 2) -- 4), 39-49 more times; 5) cool to 38°C for 5 sec. to stop the reaction.
  • the FatB4 amplicon was 678 bp in size. This sequence spans a 79 bp intron based upon the genomic sequence.
  • the reverse primer was designed to spans an intron thus favoring specific amplification of only FatB4 cDNAs, thereby eliminating amplification of the genomic DNA.
  • a PCR mix was set up as follows for cDNA amplification of FatB5 : 1.5 ⁇ L 10X Hot Start PCR Buffer (Qiagen, Valencia, USA), 1.2 ⁇ L of 10 mM dNTPs, 1 ⁇ L 25 mM MgCl 2 , 0.15 ⁇ L Qiagen Hot Start Taq (5U/ ⁇ l), 0.5 ⁇ L zz145 FW primer of 10 ⁇ M stock (SEQ ID NO: 56: CTTTGAAAGCTCATCTTCCTC), 0.5 ⁇ L FATB5_R4 REV primer of 10 ⁇ M stock (SEQ ID NO; 57: TTCCACAACATCTCCCCAAG), 0.25 ⁇ L TaqMan MGB probe (Life technologies, Carlsbad, California) FatB5_MGB_Probe_1 of 5 ⁇ M stock (SEQ ID NO: 58: FAM-AACCTTCATCCTCCCA), 1.5 ⁇ L of 10% (w/v) PVP-40), and H 2 O to 13.5 ⁇ L
  • the amplicon produced was 678 bp in size.
  • This cDNA sequence spans a 76 bp intron based upon the genomic sequence.
  • the reverse primer was designed to span an intron thus favoring the cDNA amplification of FatB5, thereby eliminating amplification of the genomic DNA.
  • T 0 callus sample ZFP TF mRNA analysis was completed as per Example 4.4.
  • the amplicon size in this assay was less than 1 Kb depending on the ZFP size in each of the designs.
  • T 0 plant ZFP TF expression quantitation was performed with a VP16 activation domain-based assay as follows.
  • a VP16 qRT-PCR mix was set up as follows for cDNA amplification of ZFP TF: 7.5 ⁇ L LIGHTCYCLER ® 480 Probes Master 2X Buffer (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN, USA), 0.3 ⁇ L VP16_UPL_F1 primer of 10 ⁇ M stock (SEQ ID NO: 59: TCGATCTTGATATGTTGGGAGA), 0.3 ⁇ L VP16_UPL_R1 of 10 ⁇ M stock (SEQ ID NO: 60: AGGTGCAGAATCATGTGGTG), 0.15 ⁇ L UPL Probe#85 (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN, USA), 1.5 ⁇ L of 10% (w/v) PVP-40), and H 2 O to 13.65 ⁇ L.
  • the appropriate quadrant(s) of a 384-well micro-plate were demarcated and filled with 13.5 ⁇ L of master mix per well. A sealing foil was then attached to the plate gently. The plate was centrifuged for 1 minute at 3000 rpm in a Qiagen micro-plate centrifuge. Thawed, diluted first strand cDNAs were added at1.5 ⁇ L, followed by the addition of 1.5 ⁇ L plasmid cDNA standards from low to high concentrations into control wells. A sealing foil was firmly affixed to the plate and centrifuged.
  • a PCR program was run in a LIGHTCYCLER ® 480 Real-Time PCR System (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN, USA) using the following conditions: 1) activate 95°C for 5 minutes; 2) denature 95°C for 10 sec (@ 4.8°C/sec); 3) anneal/Extend 60°C for 25 sec (@ 2.5°C/sec); 4) acquire 72°C for 1 sec (@ 4.8°C/sec); 5) repeat step 2-4, 39-49 more times. Finally the reaction was cooled to 38°C for 5 sec. to stop the reaction.
  • the VP16 amplicon size was 68 bp this fragment size corresponds to the VP16 fragment which was expected to be produced by the PCR amplification.
  • Transgenic callus lines growing on HERBIACE ® selection were analyzed for FatB4, FatB5, tubulin and ZFP TF expression levels by qRT-PCR.
  • the tubulin gene served as a reference gene to normalize the expression of FatB4, FatB5 and ZFP TF mRNA levels.
  • pDAB4692 callus lines showed an upregulation trend in FatB4 and FatB5 mRNA, but the trend was not statistically significant.
  • pDAB4689 callus lines were also analyzed in a separate experiment, which showed an upregulation trend, but was not statistically significant (data not shown). Control cell lines did not amplify a ZFP TF specific amplicon, confirming that the ZFP TF assay was specific to the ZFP TF expressing lines only.
  • AF111812 7.5 ⁇ L LIGHTCYCLER ® 480 SYBR Green I Master 2X Buffer, 0.3 ⁇ L BN_Actin_F primer of 10 ⁇ M stock (SEQ ID NO: 61: ACGAGCTACCTGACGGACAAG), 0.3 ⁇ L BN_Actin_R of 10 ⁇ M stock (SEQ ID NO: 62: GAGCGACGGCTGGAAGAGTA), 1.5 ⁇ L of 10% (w/v) PVP-40), and q/s with H 2 O to 13.5 ⁇ L.
  • the appropriate quadrant(s) of a 384-well micro-plate were demarcated and filled with 13.5 ⁇ L of master mix per well. A sealing foil was then attached to the plate gently.
  • the plate was centrifuged for 1 minute at 3000 rpm in a Qiagen micro-plate centrifuge. Thawed, diluted first strand cDNAs were added at1.5 ⁇ L, followed by the addition of 1.5 ⁇ L cDNA standards from low to high concentrations in control wells. A sealing foil was firmly affixed to the plate and centrifuged.
  • a PCR program was run in a LIGHTCYCLER ® 480 Real-Time PCR System (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN, USA) using the following conditions: 1) activate 95°C for 10 minutes; 2) denature 95°C for 10 sec (@ 4.8°C/sec); 3) anneal/Extend 60°C for 20 sec (@ 2.5°C/sec); 4) acquire 72°C for 20 sec (@ 4.8°C/sec); 5) repeat step 2-4, 39-49 more times. Finally the reaction was cooled to 38°C for 5 sec. to stop the reaction. The amplicon produced was 80 bp in size.
  • B. napus plants that had been transformed with pDAB4689-pDAB4691 were assayed for increased mRNA expression of FatB4 and FatB5.
  • two types of controls were used.
  • a non-transgenic control consisting of Nex710 plants served as a negative control.
  • a second transgenic control of B. napus Nex710 plants which had been transformed with pDAB8210 was also analyzed.
  • the pDAB8210 construct design consisted of two gene expression cassettes.
  • the pat gene expression cassette (AtUbi10 promoter :: pat gene :: AtuORF1 3' UTR) and a non-target Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFN) gene expression cassette (AtUbi10 promoter :: ZFN gene :: AtuORF23 3' UTR).
  • ZFN Zinc Finger Nuclease
  • Putative transgenic calli growing on HERBIACE ® selection were regenerated into plants (Example 3.3).
  • Leaf samples were collected from the 6-leaf stage B. napus plants growing in the greenhouse for mRNA expression analysis.
  • Six leaf punches from each plant were isolated and placed on ice prior to RNA extraction.
  • Total RNA was extracted using the QIAGEN RNEASY kit.
  • cDNA synthesis and subsequent dilutions were completed as described in Example 11.
  • the expression analysis protocol for FatB4 and FatB5 via qRT-PCR is described above.
  • ZFP TF expression analysis was plus/minus with the assay.
  • the actin reference gene qRT-PCR assay is described above.
  • T 0 leaf expression for FatB4 and FatB5 genes varied between constructs ( Fig. 10 ).
  • the highest FatB4 and FatB5 mRNA up-regulation was observed in pDAB4691 transgenic plant events which resulted in an overall 2.0 - 2.5 fold increases in mRNA expressions as compared to Nex710 non-transgenic and pDAB8210 transgenic controls. Expression of both genes was statistically significant (below p 0.05) as compared to controls. Therefore, further characterization of the constructs was continued with pDAB4691.
  • T 1 seeds of event 49 were planted in the greenhouse. Ninety-seven plants germinated into seedlings. ZFP TF copy number was estimated using a pat qRT-PCR assay as described in Example 6.2 for plant material isolated from the 2-4 leaf stage. Event 49 contained multiple insertions ( ⁇ 3 insertions) and 0-7 pat gene, and hence ZFP TF, copies segregated into the T 1 population. Only one null plant was identified from the T 1 population.
  • Event 49 T 1 plants were then sorted based on the FatB4 / tubulin and then FatB51tubulin expression ratios to find the highest expressing plants for advancement to T 2 generation in the greenhouse. Eight of the highest expressing FatB4 plants were selected for advancement to maturity. Six of these plants were also the highest expressing for FatB5. The ZFP TF copy number in these highest expressing plants varied from 2-4 copies while the copy number that segregated in the entire T 1 progeny were 0 -7 copies. For control plants, one null plant of event 49 and ten Nex710 control plants were also advanced to maturity for T 2 seed collection.
  • Fatty acid (FA) analysis was performed on a 24 seed bulk of all plants as described in Example 6.1.
  • the FA profile of one null plant was combined with ten Nex710 control plants for control FA profile calculations.
  • the long chain FAs, such as C20:0, C22:0 and C24:0 also showed some increases leading to increase in the total saturated FA content by 5%.
  • up-regulation of the native ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II genes (Examples 1-6) induced by ZFP TF brought about different changes in the FA profile as compared to the native FatB4 and FatB5 gene up-regulations.
  • ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II gene up-regulation caused statistically significant reduction in C16:0 and C16:1 contents and concomitant increase in total C18 content as compared to their null segregants (Example 6, Fig. 6 , Tables 5 and 8).
  • ZFP-TF-mediated FatB gene up-regulation caused statistically significant increases in the C18:0 content but no apparent change in the C16:0 content ( Fig. 14 ). Again these changes in the FA profiles through ZFP TF-mediated up-regulation of the ⁇ -ketoacyl-ACP synthetase II and FatB genes concur as per the FA biosynthesis pathway ( Fig. 1 ).
  • ZFP TFs were expressed under seed-specific promoters; either the Arabidopsis thaliana Lipid Transfer Protein 2 Promoter (AtLTP170 Promoter) (Genbank ID: NC_003076) or the Phaseolus vulgaris ß-Phaseolin Promoter (PvPhas Promoter) ( U.S. Patent No. 5,591,605 ) were used.
  • Table 15 ZFP TF construct details for targeted down-regulation of FatB genes S.N. ZFP design Construct No.
  • pDAS5203 is a binary plasmid which contained the opaque-2 NLS/13722/KRAB1 and pat gene expression cassettes. This construct includes the following gene elements; AtLTP Promoter 170 :: opague-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/KRAB1 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 :: AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: pat v5 :: AtuORF1 3'UTR v4. The binary was constructed by cloning a DNA fragment containing the opaque-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/KRAB1 fusion into a Gateway donor vector.
  • the resulting construct contained the AtLTP Promoter 170 :: opaque-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/KRAB1 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • This construct was cloned into a binary via an L-R Gateway Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAS5203 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • pDAS5204 is a binary plasmid which contained the opaque-2 NLS/13714/KRAB1 and pat gene expression cassettes. This construct includes the following gene elements; AtLTP Promoter 170 :: opaque-2 NLS/13714 Zinc Finger/KRAB1 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 :: AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: pat v5 :: AtuORF1 3'UTR v4. The binary was constructed by cloning a DNA fragment containing the opaque-2 NLS/13714 Zinc Finger/KRAB1 fusion into a Gateway donor vector.
  • the resulting construct contained the AtLTP Promoter 170 :: opaque-2 NLS/13714 Zinc Finger/KRAB1 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • This construct was cloned into a binary via an L-R Gateway Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAS5204 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • pDAS5212 is a binary plasmid which contains the opaque-2 NLS/13722/KRAB1 and pat gene expression cassettes.
  • This construct includes the following gene elements; PvPhas Promoter :: opaque-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/KRAB1 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 :: AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: pat v5 :: AtuORF1 3'UTR v4.
  • the binary was constructed by cloning a DNA fragment containing the opaque-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/KRAB1 fusion into a Gateway donor vector.
  • the resulting construct contained the PvPhas Promoter :: opaque-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/KRAB1 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • This construct was cloned into a binary via an L-R Gateway Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAS5212 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • pDAS5227 is a binary plasmid which contains the opaque-2 NLS/13722/NtERF3 and pat gene expression cassettes.
  • This construct includes the following gene elements; RB7 MAR v3 :: AtLTP Promoter 170 :: opaque-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/NtERF3 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 :: AtUbi10 Promoter v2 :: pat v5 :: AtuORF1 3'UTR v4.
  • the binary was constructed by cloning a DNA fragment containing the opaque-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/NtERF3 fusion into a Gateway donor vector.
  • the resulting construct contained the AtLTP Promoter 170 :: opaque-2 NLS/13722 Zinc Finger/NtERF3 Fusion :: AtuORF23 3'UTR v1 gene expression cassette.
  • This construct was cloned into a binary via an L-R Gateway Reaction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). This reaction produced pDAS5227 and was confirmed via restriction enzyme digestions and sequencing reactions.
  • the constructs were stably transformed into B. napus variety Nex710 by Agrobacterium -mediated transformation of hypocotyl explants (Example 3.2 - 3.3). To plants growing in the greenhouse were self pollinated and T 1 seed collected four months after transplanting.
  • T 1 seeds were obtained from transgenic events (lines) 8, 20, 37 and 15 of constructs pDAS5203, pDAS5204, pDAS5212 and pDAS5227, respectively.
  • Five Nex710 plant seed were used as controls.
  • FA analysis was performed on 24 individual seeds of each of the T 1 transgenic event, as described earlier in Example 6.1, to first identify the ZFP TF construct that most effectively alters the FA profile.
  • FA profile of pDAS5227 transgenic seed showed a distinct difference as compared to pDAS5203 and pDAS5212.
  • the pDAS5227 ZFP TF design is identical to that of pDAS5203 and pDAS5212 except for the presence of an ERF3 down-regulation domain fused to ZFP instead of a KRAB1 domain (Table 15).
  • RLT buffer Qiagen
  • BME ⁇ - mercaptoethanol
  • RNA samples Ten to twenty micrograms of the RNA was treated with TURBO DNA-free (catalog number AM1907; Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) DNase in 1.5ml RNase/DNase free tubes to remove genomic DNA.
  • TURBO DNA-free catalog number AM1907; Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA
  • DNase inactivation reagent was added to each tube and mixed. Samples were incubated at room temperature for three minutes, mixed again, and incubated at room temperature for an additional two minutes. Samples were centrifuged at 20,000xg for five minutes. Forty microliters (40 ⁇ l) of the supernatant was removed while leaving behind the DNase inactivation slurry.
  • Each DNase treated sample was quantified with the Nanodrop so that equivalent amounts of RNA could be used for cDNA synthesis.
  • RNA sample was prepared by using the cDNA High Capacity kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). Briefly, 1.5 ⁇ g of RNA was used as template in a fifty microliter reaction containing 1X reverse transcription buffer, 1X dNTPs, 1X random oligomers, and 125 units of Multiscribe reverse transcriptase. Additionally, noRT control reactions were prepared for each using 1.5 ⁇ g of DNase treated RNA under the same conditions as above without the Multiscribe reverse transcriptase. All samples were incubated at 25°C for 10 minutes, 37°C for 2 hours, 85°C for 5 minutes, and overnight at 4°C.
  • Primers and probes were designed with the Primer Express 3 software from Applied Biosystems (Foster City, CA) for FATB, KASII, ERF3, KRAB1, and Tubulin. Primers were synthesized by Integrated DNA Technologies (Coralville, IA). The following are the sequences for the primers:
  • FatB, ERF3, KRAB1 and tubulin were evaluated by real-time PCR with an Applied Biosystem 7900HT (Foster City, CA).
  • a standard curve was prepared using aliquots of several cDNA samples within the different groups to establish the dynamic range and efficiency of the assay. Subsequent 1:5 and 1:4 serial dilutions of the initial dilution were made. Each cDNA sample was diluted 1:50 with 10mM Tris, pH7.5.
  • PCR reactions were prepared in a twenty microliter volume containing 1X Gene Expression Master Mix (Applied Biosystems; Foster City, CA), 0.8 ⁇ M of forward and reverse primers, 0.2 ⁇ M of gene specific 6FAM/MGB probe and 4 microliter of diluted cDNA.
  • Standard curves were evaluated for regression and slope and threshold values adjusted as necessary.
  • the noRT samples (minus reverse transcriptase controls that contained RNA with all cDNA reaction components except the reverse transcriptase) were compared with corresponding samples to ensure that a Ct difference of 5 to 7 was present.
  • the data was imported into Excel for analysis.
  • the average quantity value of FatB, ERF3, and KRAB1 was normalized to the quantity average of tubulin and reported as FatB and tubulin expression ratios.
  • null, heterozygous and homozygous plants of both events were advanced to maturity and FA profile was determined in a pool of 24 seed of each plant. This process of segregating out null lineages from the ZFP TF-containing lineages permitted FA profile differences which more closely reflected the presence of the ZFP TF.
  • T 2 mature seed FA profiles varied depending upon the ZFP TF zygosity of the T 1 parent plant for event 5227-12 (Tables 18A and 18B). Although the heterozygous T 1 plants did not exhibit any apparent FatB mRNA down-regulation in 25 DAF immature seed, their seed FA profile exhibited an 8% reduction in C18:0 content. No significant decrease in C16:0 content was observed. In addition, minor increases in C18:1 (oleic) and subsequent down-stream FAs were observed resulting in an overall 5.5% reduction in total saturated FA (Tables 18A and 18B, Fig. 19 ). When 5227-12 T 1 plants were homozygous for ZFP TF, the FatB mRNA was downregulated significantly. The FA profile of these T 2 seed was different.

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